An American oil worker taken hostage by Nigerian terrorists claiming to be part of the Movement for Emancipation of Niger Delta has been identified as Patrick Landry. Three others were taken hostage. They are: Briton Nigel Watson-Clark, Honduran Harry Ebanks, and Bulgarian Milko Nichev.

As I speculated earlier, the terror organization is part of a larger Ijaw rebellion. Although Nigeria is dominated by Muslims, the ethnic Ijaw minority are mainly Christian and have been complaining for decades about corruption, mismanagement, and mistreatment by the central government. Whatever the misdeeds of the Nigerian government, taking hostages is NEVER a legitimate avenue of political protest.

Melbourne Herald Sun:

SEPARATIST rebels in Nigeria are close to achieving their aim of paralysing oil production in the Niger delta, after a series of attacks and kidnappings.

Yesterday four foreign oil workers kidnapped by militants spoke to the media by phone on their sixth day in captivity.

They read their captors' demands, including a 48-hour deadline, and warned the military against attempting rescue.

The kidnappers have staged a series of attacks on oil pipelines, platforms and workers over the past three weeks, denting supply from the world's eighth largest exporter and driving up world prices...

"I'd like to contact my family and let them know that I am all right and everything with us is good," said a man who identified himself as Harry Ebanks from Honduras. "The only thing (is) the environment is not good with us because there is a lot of mosquitoes and it is dangerous for us."

The Briton, who identified himself as Nigel Watson-Clark, read a list of five demands by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta.

"The Nigerian Government should not make any military intervention," he said. "They should not make any attempt to rescue us as it has been made clear that it may result in the loss of our lives."

A man identifying himself as Patrick Landry, a US citizen, said: "This climate in the conditions we're in is not conducive to us, especially as I am an older man and my health is not good.

"I'd like y'all to contact my family and let them know that I'm all right, these people are treating me good, but the climate is not what it should be." ...

The group demands local control of the delta's oil, payment of $1.5 billion by Royal Dutch Shell to the Bayelsa state government to compensate for pollution, and the release of three men including two ethnic Ijaw leaders.

"If the Nigerian Government does not meet these demands in 48 hours, whatever happens is in their own doing," the British hostage said.

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