Nigerian militant group demands 1.5 mln USD for release of Russian sailors
Nigerian militant group demands 1.5 mln USD for release of Russian sailors
08:21, June 11, 2010 
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Nigeria's main militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), has demanded 1.5 million U.S. dollars ransom for the release of two Russian sailors abducted from a vessel at a port in Cameroon last month.
The North Spirit vessel with a Russian-Ukrainian crew, flying the flag of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and owned by Greece's Balthellas Chartering S.A., was attacked on May 16 while anchored in Cameroon's largest port of Douala.
"The hostages will not be released until the ship owners pay 1.5 million dollars," a local militant based in Bayelsa State, Perewei told Xinhua on phone.
MEND is holding Russia's Captain Boris Tersintsev and Chief Engineer Officer Igor Shumik hostage in Nigeria and has forced Tersintsev to get in touch with the ship's owners and tell them how badly they are being treated.
A security source told Xinhua on Thursday that the captain communicated that they are being held in a mangrove forest without clean drinking water.
The militant group has been linked to attacks on foreign-owned companies in the oil-rich but impoverished region.
The group has launched several attacks on international oil facilities in southern Nigeria as part of its campaign to get what it calls a fairer distribution of the region's oil wealth to local people.
In June 2009, the Nigerian government offered amnesty to gunmen in the oil rich Niger Delta region, urging them to lay down their weapons by Oct. 4 in a bid to end unrest, which has cost Africa's top oil exporter billions of dollars in lost revenue.
Scores of Nigerian armed youth gave up their weapons and embrace amnesty offered by the Nigerian government in the most concerted effort yet to end years of fighting in the oil-rich producing region.
The Niger Delta is an unstable area where inter-ethnic clashes are commonplace. Access to oil revenue is the trigger for the violence.
Over 300 foreigners have been seized in the Niger Delta since 2006. Almost all have been released unharmed after paying a ransom.
Source: Xinhua
The North Spirit vessel with a Russian-Ukrainian crew, flying the flag of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and owned by Greece's Balthellas Chartering S.A., was attacked on May 16 while anchored in Cameroon's largest port of Douala.
"The hostages will not be released until the ship owners pay 1.5 million dollars," a local militant based in Bayelsa State, Perewei told Xinhua on phone.
MEND is holding Russia's Captain Boris Tersintsev and Chief Engineer Officer Igor Shumik hostage in Nigeria and has forced Tersintsev to get in touch with the ship's owners and tell them how badly they are being treated.
A security source told Xinhua on Thursday that the captain communicated that they are being held in a mangrove forest without clean drinking water.
The militant group has been linked to attacks on foreign-owned companies in the oil-rich but impoverished region.
The group has launched several attacks on international oil facilities in southern Nigeria as part of its campaign to get what it calls a fairer distribution of the region's oil wealth to local people.
In June 2009, the Nigerian government offered amnesty to gunmen in the oil rich Niger Delta region, urging them to lay down their weapons by Oct. 4 in a bid to end unrest, which has cost Africa's top oil exporter billions of dollars in lost revenue.
Scores of Nigerian armed youth gave up their weapons and embrace amnesty offered by the Nigerian government in the most concerted effort yet to end years of fighting in the oil-rich producing region.
The Niger Delta is an unstable area where inter-ethnic clashes are commonplace. Access to oil revenue is the trigger for the violence.
Over 300 foreigners have been seized in the Niger Delta since 2006. Almost all have been released unharmed after paying a ransom.
Source: Xinhua
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