Italian hostages are ‘well but bored’

ROME – Two Italians held hostage along with a Lebanese national for nearly 10 weeks in volatile southern Nigeria say they are in good health but bored, the Italian daily La Repubblica reported yesterday.

“Our health conditions are good,” wrote Cosma Russo, 55, in an e-mail received the day after their Nigerian captors said they would not consider releasing the hostages until after elections due in May. Francesco Arena, 54, added: “We have nothing to do, we await the day of freedom…We always eat the same thing: rice with sauce, and beans, tuna and sardines.”The pair were allowed to answer questions sent by La Repubblica to their captors, the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND).Russo wrote: “I had a bout of malaria a month ago, but there were medicines.”The pair also said they were allowed to walk around the interior of the camp where they are being held but had no news from Italy.The Nigerian government’s chief negotiator on Monday denied any breakdown in talks for the release of the hostages, seized along with Lebanese Imad Saliba on December 7.Russo said in the e-mail that “the hostage-takers tell us that they want control of the resources in the Niger Delta,” while Arena added that they “want the release of their leaders.”Another Italian kidnapped with them, Roberto Dieghi, was freed on January 18 because of health problems.All work for the Italian oil firm Agip.La Repubblica said the MEND spokesman took 10 days to pass the questions on to the hostages, but said they had been allowed to answer freely.Their abduction from one of Agip’s facilities at Brass in southern Bayelsa State was one in a spate of kidnappings designed to highlight alleged imbalances in the distribution of oil wealth in the region.The MEND gave assurances at the end of last month that it would not execute the three hostages even if talks over their release broke down.Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, derives more than 95 per cent of its foreign exchange earnings from the fossil fuel.Nampa-AFPFrancesco Arena, 54, added: “We have nothing to do, we await the day of freedom…We always eat the same thing: rice with sauce, and beans, tuna and sardines.”The pair were allowed to answer questions sent by La Repubblica to their captors, the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND).Russo wrote: “I had a bout of malaria a month ago, but there were medicines.”The pair also said they were allowed to walk around the interior of the camp where they are being held but had no news from Italy.The Nigerian government’s chief negotiator on Monday denied any breakdown in talks for the release of the hostages, seized along with Lebanese Imad Saliba on December 7.Russo said in the e-mail that “the hostage-takers tell us that they want control of the resources in the Niger Delta,” while Arena added that they “want the release of their leaders.”Another Italian kidnapped with them, Roberto Dieghi, was freed on January 18 because of health problems.All work for the Italian oil firm Agip.La Repubblica said the MEND spokesman took 10 days to pass the questions on to the hostages, but said they had been allowed to answer freely.Their abduction from one of Agip’s facilities at Brass in southern Bayelsa State was one in a spate of kidnappings designed to highlight alleged imbalances in the distribution of oil wealth in the region.The MEND gave assurances at the end of last month that it would not execute the three hostages even if talks over their release broke down.Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, derives more than 95 per cent of its foreign exchange earnings from the fossil fuel.Nampa-AFP