2006年VOA标准英语-Four Oil Workers Seized in Latest Nigeria Kidna

（单词翻译）

By Gilbert da Costa
Abuja
14 August 2006 

		Militant1 patrols creeks2 of the Niger Delta3 area of Nigeria (File photo) " src="http://www.tingroom.com/upimg/allimg/070416/1118030.jpg" width="153" border="0" /> Militant patrols creeks of the Niger Delta area of Nigeria (File photo)

Armed men seized four foreign oil workers Sunday in the latest kidnapping in the oil-rich Niger Delta.  It was the fifth kidnapping in the troubled region this month.

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Seven armed men stormed a crowded nightclub in Nigeria's southern oil city of Port Harcourt late Sunday and kidnapped four foreign oil workers. An American and a Briton were said to be among those abducted⁴.

Monday, three Philippine gas workers were released after 10 days in captivity⁵. Port Harcourt journalist Joe Onah witnessed the transfer of the men to Philippine embassy officials and says the ex-hostages looked well.

"The attorney general of Rivers State took the hostages on behalf of the state government," said Onah. "They were handed over to the Philippine embassy in Nigeria and they were in good condition. They said there was no ransom⁶ paid, that is the hostages were saying that as far as they were concerned there was no ransom demanded."

Hostages are usually released after a few days when a ransom has been paid.

Criminology Professor Etannibi Alemika, of Jos University in central Nigeria, says the violence that started as a protest against years of neglect and injustice⁷, has now taken a more complex dimension and could go on for a long time.

"It has assumed an economic dimension of its own where people really look forward to reaping a lot and that has broken down into many factions⁸ in that area; among traditional rulers, among politicians, among the elite⁹; all of them have their own factions of the militants¹⁰," he said. "I think that is the point we are now which is a very dangerous thing because it makes finding an end to that type of violence very difficult because there are now entrenched¹¹ interests for it to continue, to be perpetuated¹² in spite of the original grievances¹³."

Nigerian militants have launched a wave of kidnappings and attacks on oil facilities and personnel in the past seven months, leading to a 25 percent cut in oil output in Africa's largest oil producer.