24 kidnapped from cargo ship in Nigeria

MANILA – Gunmen have started negotiating for the release of 24 Filipino cargo ship crewmen taken hostage aboard a German cargo ship in Nigerian waters, a Philippine official said yesterday.

The ship was near the Nigerian oil city of Warri when the gunmen took 17 sailors to a nearby village Saturday and forced the remaining sailors to stay on board, said foreign affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos. The government had initially said six sailors had been kidnapped.Local Nigerian government officials had already identified a negotiator and talks were under way, Conejos said, adding that all the Filipinos were apparently “safe and sound”.The gunmen are from the militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which has been seeking the release of the movement’s leader and two other men charged with treason, he said.He said he was unaware of any specific demands from the group in the current negotiations.The group has launched crippling assaults against the energy industry in Africa’s oil giant since last year.Two days before the seizure of the Filipino crew, the group released five Chinese and one Italian hostage, seized earlier in separate incidents in the oil-rich southern delta region.The Nigerian government was fully cooperating with the Philippines to win the hostages’ release, Conejos said.”Both of our governments are dead set to resolve this incident peacefully,” he said.The ship, Baco-Liner 2, remained anchored off Warri under the gunmen’s control, he said.The ships cooks have remained on board and are making food that is being taken to the hostages in the village, he said.Klaus Steffen, manager at Baco-Liner GmbH of Duisburg, Germany, said his company had no contact with the ship’s crew and could not confirm that only seven crew members remained on board.”We have no contact directly with the ship because the entire crew must have been overpowered.I don’t know how many people are on board now,” he said.Further details about the ship, its course and cargo were not immediately known.President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Monday suspended the deployment of Filipino workers to Nigeria until the hostage crisis is resolved.Nampa-APThe government had initially said six sailors had been kidnapped.Local Nigerian government officials had already identified a negotiator and talks were under way, Conejos said, adding that all the Filipinos were apparently “safe and sound”.The gunmen are from the militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which has been seeking the release of the movement’s leader and two other men charged with treason, he said.He said he was unaware of any specific demands from the group in the current negotiations.The group has launched crippling assaults against the energy industry in Africa’s oil giant since last year.Two days before the seizure of the Filipino crew, the group released five Chinese and one Italian hostage, seized earlier in separate incidents in the oil-rich southern delta region.The Nigerian government was fully cooperating with the Philippines to win the hostages’ release, Conejos said.”Both of our governments are dead set to resolve this incident peacefully,” he said.The ship, Baco-Liner 2, remained anchored off Warri under the gunmen’s control, he said.The ships cooks have remained on board and are making food that is being taken to the hostages in the village, he said.Klaus Steffen, manager at Baco-Liner GmbH of Duisburg, Germany, said his company had no contact with the ship’s crew and could not confirm that only seven crew members remained on board.”We have no contact directly with the ship because the entire crew must have been overpowered.I don’t know how many people are on board now,” he said.Further details about the ship, its course and cargo were not immediately known.President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Monday suspended the deployment of Filipino workers to Nigeria until the hostage crisis is resolved.Nampa-AP