Man kidnapped as violence escalates in Nigeria

A British ex-pat has been kidnapped in Nigeria, according to reports today.

The hostage was seized by five gunmen in the oil hub Port Harcourt last night, but as yet no group has claimed responsibility.

The victim is a former employee of the petrochemicals firm Indo Rama.

The kidnap report came as violence escalated elsewhere in the oil rich country with reports that militants had sabotaged a pipeline overnight in the southern oil region.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said in a statement that its fighters used high explosives to destroy the pipeline operated by the local unit of Royal Dutch Shell.

Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa said the military was investigating reports of a Briton being kidnapped, but the militants said they were not involved in any seizure.

Lt Col Musa said gunmen also attacked a Chevron Corporation oil platform early today, but were repelled by security forces.

Chevron spokesman Deji Haastrup said only that personnel were being withdrawn from the installation, but he could not say what caused the evacuation.

In recent days, violence has flared across Nigeria’s Niger Delta oil region, with a series of rare ground battles between militants and Nigerian troops that previously have tended to avoid confronting one another in the region’s vast system of rivers and creeks.

On Saturday, the military task force charged with calming the region launched a deadly attack on a militant base camp with landing craft, helicopters and airplanes.

The militants have since retaliated by sending raiding parties from their camps deep in the mangrove swamps to target military personnel and oil infrastructure.

At least nine militants and several members of the armed forces have been killed, along with civilian casualties.

On Sunday the militants declared that the latest clashes with the military meant the region has slipped into a state of war.

The militants say they have been agitating for the last three years to force the federal government to send more oil-industry revenues to their areas, which remain deeply poor despite five decades of crude production.

Their attacks on oil infrastructure have trimmed nearly one quarter of Nigeria’s daily production, helping send oil prices to all-time highs in international markets.

A full-blown civil war, however, would be a nightmare scenario for the oil industry, since large-scale battles could leave the country’s network of wells, pipelines and export terminals in tatters and insecurity would prevent repairs. Some oil industry officials say that daily production could fall quickly to zero.