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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, April 25, 2002

43 Hostages Freed in Nigeria: Chevron Texaco

Oil giant ChevronTexaco Thursday said Nigerian hostage-takers have released 43 oil workers held hostage on an oil rig off southern Nigeria since Sunday.


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Oil giant ChevronTexaco Thursday said Nigerian hostage-takers have released 43 oil workers held hostage on an oil rig off southern Nigeria since Sunday.

Spokesman for the American company Joe Jakpa said that the militant youths evacuated the drilling rig Thursday morning after they ended negotiations with officials from ChevronTexaco, local community leaders and regional authorities.

Jakpa said the hostage-takers, who are local youths demanding for contract jobs on the rig, freed the hostages peacefully.

"The siege on the rig ended this morning (Thursday). The youths have evacuated the rig and the workers were neither harassed nor harmed," he said.

The released 43 workers will continue working on the rig, he added.

The militant youths Sunday boarded the rig, about 8 kilometers off the town of Escravos in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, and took hostage 88 oilmen, including 22 foreigners, but freed 45 of the hostages on Tuesday after talks.

Earlier this month, Nigerian militant youths held 10 oil workers of Shell on a boat close to an oil rig 20 nautical miles off the southern oil city of Warri, but freed them after several days.

In August last year, Shell's 99 oil workers were seized by youths reportedly supporting the struggle in the Niger Delta area for a greater share of Nigeria's oil wealth. Later they were freed.

In terms of its vast oil reserves with more than 22 billion barrels, the Niger Delta is the richest part of the country, but the people of the region remain poor. GNP per capita in the region is below the national average.

Militants in the Niger Delta have frequently taken foreign workers hostage in order to draw attention to their cause.


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