Militants in Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta yesterday released their last remaining foreign hostages -- two Americans and one Briton -- more than five weeks after the oil-industry workers were kidnapped, officials said.
The release of the trio, employees of US oil services company Willbros, raised hopes for an end to three months of sabotage and kidnapping in the world's eighth-largest oil exporting country that has cut shipments by a quarter.
The three men were handed to the governor of Nigeria's southern Delta state by an ethnic Ijaw leader, who had been negotiating with the militants on behalf of the government. US and British diplomatic staff took the men for medical checks.
Abel Oshevire, spokesman for the southern Delta state government, said Cody Oswalt, Russell Spell and Briton John Hudspith were released just before dawn and were now with the local governor, James Ibori.
"[The three] are in very good health and high spirits," he said. "Of course, they are a bit agitated after a month in captivity."
Ibori said no ransom was paid.
"Now that they have been released, the pertinent issues raised by the youths on the Niger Delta condition will have to be addressed," he said.
The rebel Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) had demanded a greater share of the region's huge oil wealth, the release of two jailed Ijaw leaders and compensation for oil pollution as conditions for freeing the hostages.
It was not immediately clear what produced the breakthrough, but President Olusegun Obasanjo is due to fly to Washington today and pressure had been building up for an end to the standoff over the hostages.
MEND militants captured nine foreign oil workers on Feb. 18 during a wave of attacks on oil facilities, but released six of them earlier this month. It was the second bout of kidnapping by the group since January.
The militant attacks followed a military assault on communities in Delta state that the government accused of involvement in oil theft. The military commander who ordered the assault has since been removed.
Militants had threatened to stage another major attack on oil facilities this month with the aim of cutting another 1 million barrels a day of exports.
"I hope the federal government will cease all attacks and will not try to arrest anyone," said Dimieari Von Kemedi, Ijaw activist and head of the non-governmental group Our Niger Delta.
"I also hope MEND realizes that the issues raised are now being handled as a top priority and there is no need for further attacks as that would be counter-productive to dialogue," he said.
MEND has yet to comment on the freeing of the hostages.
The militants say their larger goal is a bigger cut of the oil revenues held by the federal government for their southern Niger Delta region, which remains deeply poor despite the oil pumped from beneath them.
The majority of people in the delta have seen few benefits from decades of oil extraction that has yielded billions of dollars in profits for foreign oil companies and corrupt politicians. Authorities often dismiss militants as thieves.
Vast areas of the delta are not connected to the national power grid. There is no clean water in many places. There are almost no roads. Teachers and doctors are in short supply. The environment has been wrecked by oil spills and the 24-hour burning of gas associated with the extraction of oil.
Foreign oil workers have frequently been taken hostage, and most are released unharmed.
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