Nigerian gang seizes Germans
Source: Agencies |
April 20, 2010, Tuesday
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GUNMEN abducted two Germans who sought respite along a beach in Nigeria's oil-rich and violent southern region, an area long targeted by kidnappers ranging from criminal gangs to armed militants, a private security official said yesterday.
The official said the two men visited a beach on Sunday along the Imo River in Abia state, near the oil-rich swamps and creeks of the Niger Delta. The two men had started walking back to their car where their driver waited when gunmen seized them, the official said.
Militants in the delta have targeted oil workers for kidnapping in the past during their campaign to bring more oil money to a region that suffered environmental damage and economic neglect over 50 years of production. However, criminal gangs increasingly target wealthy Nigerians and politicians for kidnappings, as well as foreigners who stumble into their path.
The two Germans kidnapped apparently traveled to the area, long known for its instability, without any guards.
It's "likely opportunist abduction," the security official said, requesting anonymity.
President Umaru Yar'Adua negotiated a cease-fire with militants with a promise of more government oil money coming to the region. The government also began offering cash payoffs to former fighters to keep them from carrying out new raids in the maze of creeks and oil fields running through the delta.
That amnesty deal faltered after Yar'Adua became ill and hasn't been seen publicly since November. Militants detonated two car bombs on March 15 during a newspaper-sponsored discussion about the amnesty program.
The official said the two men visited a beach on Sunday along the Imo River in Abia state, near the oil-rich swamps and creeks of the Niger Delta. The two men had started walking back to their car where their driver waited when gunmen seized them, the official said.
Militants in the delta have targeted oil workers for kidnapping in the past during their campaign to bring more oil money to a region that suffered environmental damage and economic neglect over 50 years of production. However, criminal gangs increasingly target wealthy Nigerians and politicians for kidnappings, as well as foreigners who stumble into their path.
The two Germans kidnapped apparently traveled to the area, long known for its instability, without any guards.
It's "likely opportunist abduction," the security official said, requesting anonymity.
President Umaru Yar'Adua negotiated a cease-fire with militants with a promise of more government oil money coming to the region. The government also began offering cash payoffs to former fighters to keep them from carrying out new raids in the maze of creeks and oil fields running through the delta.
That amnesty deal faltered after Yar'Adua became ill and hasn't been seen publicly since November. Militants detonated two car bombs on March 15 during a newspaper-sponsored discussion about the amnesty program.
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