Incident: Romanian Kidnapped in Nigeria

A separatist group in Nigeria has kidnapped a Romanian worker on an oil platform of Exxon Mobil Oil and six other colleagues of his on Monday night. According to certain official information made public last night, the name of the captured Romanian is Emil Neagu.

THE TARGET

The foreign workers employed by certain oil companies are often targets for the kidnappers, especially in the Nigerian Delta, a region dominated by criminal gangs and Islamic groups. Even though the Nigerian Government had promised repeatedly that it would take the necessary measures to annihilate the terrorist groups, the efforts don’t seem to be enough.

Actually, one of the separatist groups in the region0 announced yesterday that the kidnapping came as a result of the "amalgamation of the Nigerian army in the Niger Delta". "We have decided to muster in a certain number of combatants in the Akwa Ibom state to help the local communities (…), which are to be attacked by the Nigerian national army", says a public statement of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Nigerian Delta (MEND), which targets the destruction of the Nigerian oil industry.

FOR THE MONEY

The movement is involved in an open fight against the Nigerian Federal state for a better dissemination of the general incomes from the oil exploitation in the Niger Delta.

MEND is notorious for its attacks against the oil plants and for the numerous kidnapping of foreign workers. Yesterday, they warned again the oil companies that trusted the Nigerian Government and advised them to secure their oil plants.

RECALLED

The Wednesday night kidnapping in the Nigerian Delta took place a few hours before the Romanian President, Traian Basescu, had signed the decree for the recalling of the Romanian ambassador in Nigeria, Emil Rapcea. When we contacted the Romanian Ministry of External Affairs, they told us the procedures had been initiated a few months ago. In an official statement MEA had announced that the Romanian Embassy has permanent connection to the Nigerian authorities.

Translated by Sorin Balan