Two Italian hostages held by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) have been released this morning! They have been held for 98 days.
MEND handed them over to a visiting Italian journalist Massimo Alberizzi on Thursday 15, 2007.
The two Italians Cosma Russo and Franco Arena were abducted by MEND militants on December 7, 2006, at the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) in Brass, Bayelsa state in the Niger Delta and were hostages until Thursday, March 15, 2007.
Sister Jacinta Crux, a cloistered nun of a monastery in Lagos who had worked in Brass made a passionate appeal to MEND and constantly prayed for the hostages and she is thanking God for answering her prayers. The SOS letter of Sister Crux was published on page 12 of The Guardian of Nigeria on Friday March 9, 2007, and Cosma Russo and Franco Arena were released Thursday March 15, 2007, at 0100hrs.
"Their premature release is in response to pleas from certain quarters, which could not be ignored. This will not be repeated for future captives we will shortly take for as long as the Nigerian government refuses to address our demands," MEND said.
Posted March 15th, 2007 by MichaelChima
