A magistrate in Nigeria's oil city of Port Harcourt has charged 65 people believed to be behind the recent abduction of some of over a dozen oil workers, police said Wednesday. "Sixty-five of them were charged on Monday. They are suspected of kidnapping seven oil workers, including American citizens," Rita Inoma-Abbey, police spokeswoman for Rivers State told AFP.
The Nigerian army last month arrested 63 militants as part of a clampdown on kidnappings and attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta, the heart of one of the world's largest oil industries. The militants were accused of the kidnapping of 19 oil workers, including several foreigners, in recent weeks.
The military had before the arrests freed the 19 hostages from the creeks of the Niger Delta region. The victims included American, Canadian, French, Indonesian and Nigerian nationals working for the American oil giant Exxon Mobil, British oil servicing company Afren and a Nigerian construction firm Julius Berger.
The turbulent Niger Delta region has in the last half of this year seen an upsurge in oil attacks and kidnappings as the country readies for presidential polls next year. President Goodluck Jonathan, who is himself from region, is contesting in the election.
More than 50 people - including foreign and local oil workers, children and journalists - have been abducted since the middle of the year in the Niger Delta. The resurgence of attacks on oil installations comes after an amnesty programme last year reduced violence in the region and saw oil output rebound from around one million to 2.2 million barrels per day. Security forces have reported around 500 arrests of militants and kidnappers arrested between October and November. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) which says it is fighting for a fairer distribution of oil revenue, has claimed responsibility for the most of the kidnapping of oil workers and sabotage of oil installations.
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