Four American Hostages released in southern Nigeria
(story below is excerpted from the Vanguard, a Nigerian newspaper)

The four American oil workers abducted on May 8 by militants in the Niger Delta were released last night to Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan at Government House Annex, Warri. (I believe these are the workers whom I mentioned in an entry on May 25th).

Released were: Chris Gay, Kelvin Faller, Mike Roussel and Larry Plake, all workers of Global Industry, an oil servicing company to Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL).

Governor Uduaghan apologised to them on behalf of the state and the Federal Governments and pledged to set up a security committee to police the waterways to prevent further abductions.

Earlier yesterday, the Americans had been released by the Niger Delta Freedom Fighters (NDFF) aka Egbema One to another group of militants through an Egbema Ijaw leader, Mr. Lucky Kerekeremwei, who acted as mediator between the two sides.

Vanguard gathered that militants in Delta State agreed to suspend further hostilities to give the new governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, who they described as one of them, a peaceful atmosphere to execute his programmes, top of which are peace, security and massive infrastructural development of the riverside communities.