LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigerian militants who have sabotaged oil facilities and kidnapped workers in the southern Niger Delta threatened on Tuesday to stage a series of attacks over the next few days to show oil companies their power.
In an email statement, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta which is holding four foreign hostages also threatened to use more aggressive tactics against oil workers and their families in the vast wetlands region from February 1.
``In the next few days we will carry out a series of attacks to prove to all companies that we alone, your hosts, can guarantee your security,'' the statement said.
The militants called on oil workers to leave the vast region of mangrove swamps and tidal creeks where almost all of Nigeria's 2.4 million barrels a day is produced.
The four oil workers held hostage by the group spoke to Reuters by telephone on their sixth day in captivity on Monday, listing their captors' demands and warning the military against any attempted intervention or rescue.
The four -- an American, a Briton, a Bulgarian and a Honduran -- said they were being treated well, but that their living conditions were not comfortable.
On behalf of the captors, the Briton delivered a 48-hour ultimatum to the Nigerian government to accede to five demands and called for negotiations.
OIL WORKERS EVACUATED
Royal Dutch Shell evacuated about 330 workers from four oil flow stations after the latest attack on Sunday, and is considering more withdrawals amid uncertainty over where the militants will strike next, a senior oil industry official said.
Two attacks last Wednesday cut Nigeria's oil output by 226,000 barrels a day, or 10 percent, and this production is still shut almost a week later.
ExxonMobil denied a report by a shipping agent that it had suspended loadings at two export terminals that together ship 550,000 barrels per day.
The militants demand local control of the Niger Delta's oil wealth, that Shell pay the local government $1.5 billion to compensate for pollution, and the release of three men including two ethnic Ijaw leaders, the British hostage told Reuters.
Analysts say the violence is also part of growing regional rivalry in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, ahead of presidential elections in 2007.
Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, one of the Ijaw leaders whose release was demanded by the kidnappers, appeared on Tuesday in an Abuja court, where he faces treason charges.
Asari, who led Ijaw militia attacks on the oil industry and federal government in 2004, said he did not know most of the groups taking action, but told Reuters: ``If (President Olusegun) Obasanjo has pushed my people into armed struggle again then I am fully behind their actions and demands.''
Shouting on his way into the courtroom, he launched a blistering attack on Obasanjo. ``Obasanjo is a murderer, a thief, a man who is stealing the resources of this country,'' he said.
The prospect of more evacuations by Shell, Nigeria's top producer, raises the likelihood of deeper output cuts and will increase pressure on Obasanjo to crack down on the militants.
Violence against oil workers is frequent in the Niger Delta, where an estimated 20 million people live in poverty alongside a multibillion-dollar industry.
Much of the rhetoric of militant Niger Delta groups is echoed by regional politicians, who have demanded a greater share of the oil wealth and the right to pick the ruling party candidate for elections in 2007.
The militants' threats helped drive up oil prices for a second day running, combining with worries about Iran's nuclear program to push London Brent crude up by $1.18 to $64.36 a barrel by 1855 GMT.