US and British hostages freed in Nigeria

LAGOS - Three foreign oil workers, two Americans and a Briton, were freed today after being held hostage by militants in Nigeria for five weeks, a US diplomatic source said.


The three, employees of US oil services company Willbros, were seized from a barge in the southern Niger Delta on February 18 during a wave of attacks in the world's eighth largest oil exporting country that has cut shipments by a quarter.


"They are all in good health," the source told Reuters, asking not to be named.


The rebel Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta had demanded a greater share of the delta's oil wealth, the release of two jailed leaders from the region and compensation for oil pollution as conditions for freeing the hostages.


It was not immediately clear what produced the breakthrough in talks with the kidnappers, but President Olusegun Obasanjo is due to fly to Washington on Tuesday and pressure had been building up for an end to the standoff over the hostages.


- REUTERS