Nigerian militant leader returns home after stint in jail, calls for end to kidnappings

Описание: (18 Jun 2007) SHOTLIST

June 18, 2007
1. Crowd of supporters running in street UPSOUND: singing
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, Freed militant leader:
"We will try and work together to stop this act of criminality, of banditry. We are not going to be something that we are not. We are fighting for justice, we should not do injustice to other people."

FILE: June 06, 2007
3. Oil facility in Port Harcourt
4. Wide of street


STORYLINE:

A top militant leader returned to Nigeria's oil heartland on Saturday after a year and a half in prison, and said he would continue his struggle to bring more petroleum funds to the impoverished region where Africa's biggest producer pumps its crude.

As kidnappers released 10 Indian hostages, including women and children, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari told about 10-thousand cheering supporters who met him at the airport that the rampant kidnappings must stop.

"We will try and work together to stop this act of criminality," Dokubo-Asari said as he made a hero's return, singing supporters jogging alongside.

"We are not going to be something that we are not. We are fighting for justice, we should not do injustice to other people."

Dokubo-Asari, who was granted bail Thursday on health grounds, said he would continue to demand greater autonomy and a larger share of federal
government-controlled oil funds for his Niger Delta region.

It was unclear if his appeal would end the hostage takings.

More than 200 foreigners have been snatched as the security situation deteriorated in the past 18 months.

The militants behind the early seizures were demanding Dokubo-Asari's release, but criminal gangs only loosely affiliated with the militants have
increasingly taken up the practice.

Also, it is unclear whether Dokubo-Asari will still have strong command over militants after his stint in jail.

Overnight Friday, kidnappers released 10 Indian nationals who were abducted June 1, the military said Saturday.

The Indians, including three women and two children, were released overnight and handed over to their employer, Eleme Petrochemicals, said Major Sagir Musa, a military spokesman in the region.

On Friday, gunmen seized five foreign hostages in two separate incidents elsewhere in the vast wetlands region where the crude is pumped.

After 18 months of rising violence that has slashed output by about one quarter in Africa's biggest producer, about a dozen foreigners remain in captivity in the region.

Newly inaugurated President Umaru Yar'Adua has said the crisis in the Niger Delta is one of his main priorities, and Dokubo-Asari was released on
bail Thursday, meeting a top demand of fighters in the region.

The militants have also demanded liberty for an ex-governor on trial for corruption charges, as well as more government oil funds for their region _
which remains desperately poor despite its great natural bounty.

Attacks claimed by the group have cut oil production by about a quarter in Nigeria, Africa's top producer and a leading source of U.S. oil imports.

Dokubo-Asari was arrested and charged on treason-related charges in November 2005 after saying in a newspaper interview he would work for the
breakup of Nigeria.

As a condition for his release, Dokubo-Asari is expected to avoid political rallies and inform security services of his movements.

The trial is to recommence when the diabetes sufferer is in better health, the judge ruled.

But many Nigerians viewed his release as a gesture of willingness by Yar'Adua's government to work toward final resolution of the crisis.

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