The Hindu : Hostages to leave rigs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 03, 2003

International

International

Hostages to leave rigs

LAGOS: Striking Nigerian oil workers have agreed to release nearly 100 foreigners held on four offshore rigs for over two weeks, a senior union official said on Friday. ``Everybody is expected to be moving home from this evening, depending on logistics,'' Joseph Akilanja, deputy president of the umbrella Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), said. ``We have just agreed. The company representatives, the NLC and all stakeholders including representatives of the striking workers have agreed,'' he said by phone from the venue of the talks in the Nigerian capital Abuja. Earlier, the Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, intervened to order fresh talks in a strike which trapped the Western workers on the four hijacked offshore rigs. At the President's insistence, top labour leaders convened a meeting with the U.S. firm Transocean Inc., which owns the platforms. On Thursday, Transocean's spokesman said the company had asked Mr. Obasanjo to intervene in the dispute, which broke out on April 19 when workers blockaded the platforms. — AFP

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