OilVoice - Rebels Free Four Oil Hostages in Cameroon

Rebels Free Four Oil Hostages in Cameroon

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Four hostages employed by Tidewater, a multinational service company providing maritime services to the oil industry, have been freed in Cameroon after three months in captivity at the mercy of their kidnappers.

The three Filipinos and one Ukrainian were freed out at sea on Saturday night, off of Cameroon’s southern Bakissa peninsula.

According to reports a large sum of money – believed to be in the region of $0.5 million – was paid in ransom for the workers, who were taken on shore in Nigeria following their release.

An earlier attempt at paying the ransom failed. A local newspaper, Le Jour, claimed that “the whole of the first ransom was sent to the kidnappers with the assistance of a senior Cameroonian official clearly acting without the knowledge of the highest authorities,” was embezzled in transit.

A rebel group known as the Bakassi Freedom Fighters (BFF) are deemed responsible for the kidnapping.

The four men were among a party of six working on a supply vessel contracted by Royal Dutch Shell when they were abducted on March 14, by two separate militant groups. The remaining two hostages are believed to still be with their captors.

A senior official in Cameroon’s state oil fir, said: “The decision to release the hostages came after lengthy negotiations during which Petcon (Shell Cameroon’s joint venture) accepted to pay money in ransom to the pirates.”

Although abduction of foreign oil workers and employees has become commonplace in Nigeria, following the escalation of violence by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, such incidents rarely make international headlines in neighbouring Cameroon.

However, the past twelve months have seen a dramatic increase in attacks made out at sea in the region off of the Bakassi peninsula – an area which was conceded by Nigeria to Cameroon in August of last year, following a 15-year long border dispute. The area is thought to be rich in as-yet unproven oil and natural gas reserves.

Cameroonian officials fear that the recent campaign by the Joint Military Taskforce in Nigeria will push the Nigerian rebels away from the Delta and across into Cameroonian waters.

If successful, the recently announced six-week peace agreement between the government and militants in Nigeria may create a vacuum of news that militant activity in Cameroon may just fill the void of.