Two Italian oil workers kidnapped by a militant group in Nigeria more than three months ago have been released unharmed, the Italian foreign ministry said on Thursday.
Francesco Arena and Cosma Russo were released overnight by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), a rebel group which wants foreign oil groups to leave the oil-rich Niger Delta region.
Arena, 54, and Russo, 55, were dropped at an oil company boat yard on the outskirts of oil city Port Harcourt. The two work for Italian petroleum group Agip, a subsidiary of oil giant Eni.
Arena subsequently told an Italian satellite news channel: "We're both well and we were treated very well - that is, as well as was possible considering we were in the jungle".
The two are currently undergoing medical checks by oil company doctors and are expected to be flown back to Italy on Thursday night or Friday.
Arena and Russo were seized on December 7 when MEND militants attacked a pumping station in Brass, a small coastal town in the swampy southern state of Bayelsa.
Two other oil workers, Italian Roberto Dieghi, and Lebanese Imad Saliba, were also kidnapped during the raid.
Dieghi, who suffers from hypertension, was released after six weeks while Saliba managed to escape with the help of Agip and the local army on February 21.
MEND issued a range of demands for the four hostages' release, including compensation for damages and future oil money for the local population, and that foreign oil groups quit the Delta.
The group, which first surfaced in 2005, told ANSA in an e-mail on Thursday that more foreigners would be taken hostage.
"None of our demands were met... The Italians were kidnapped to bring to the attention of the Italian people the crimes committed by Agip in the Niger Delta. We clearly obtained that goal," MEND spokesman Jomo Gbomo said.
"The Italians will be replaced by new hostages, who will be seized from oil installations that are believed to be safe," Gbomo said.
RANSOM DENIED.
He denied that MEND had demanded a ransom in return for the hostages' release, insisting that the group's objectives were "purely political".
Eni, in a statement expressing satisfaction for the Italians' release, also insisted that "no ransom was paid".
But Arena's wife Angela Fiaccabrino told reporters that a ransom had been paid.
"I had a long talk with my husband this morning. I can't wait to see him. He explained that they had been treated very well and that money was paid for their release," she said.
Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema refused to be drawn on the matter, saying that "this is something for magistrates to look into, not the foreign ministry".
Premier Romano Prodi, meanwhile, joined other political officials in hailing the Italians' release.
The premier said he was "extremely pleased" and thanked the Nigerian authorities including President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Italian secret services for their help.
Kidnappings and attacks on foreign oil firms in the Niger Delta, Africa's largest oil-producing region, have risen sharply in the past year.
The Italian foreign ministry has urged Italians to leave the region, advice which D'Alema repeated on Thursday.
"The foreign ministry has called for the presence of Italian workers and technicians to be reduced to a minimum and security measures to be adopted in an area which remains very dangerous," he said.
Around 600 Italians work in the Niger Delta.
Two Italians working for engineering group Impregilo were held hostage for three days in the Niger Delta last month by another militant group active in the region.
The presence of foreign oil companies has fuelled resentment among many residents in the impoverished region, who say the profits have enriched industry players and the government but failed to benefit them.
But many militants who claim to be fighting for the local population are considered little more than oil thieves, bandits or the puppets of corrupt politicians.
MEND was responsible for attacks last year that shut down a fifth of Nigerian oil output.
Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer and the eighth largest in the world.
