WARRI, Nigeria (AP) - Four people from a Seattle-based film crew and a Nigerian man accompanying them have been detained and accused of traveling illegally in restive southern Nigeria, officials said.
Security forces fighting militants in the Niger Delta consider much of the vast wetland region a military zone and have barred outsiders from traveling there without express consent by authorities.
Nigerian Brig. Gen. Wuyep Rintip said the group was seized Saturday for flouting the ban and were to be flown to the capital, Abuja. He did not identify the detainees.
A U.S. official in Nigeria said the detainees were being given consular assistance. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing prohibitions on dealings with the media, said no further details could be given due to privacy concerns.
According to a news release issued Sunday in Seattle, those detained are Sandi Cioffi, director of the documentary "Sweet Crude;" Tammi Sims, Cliff Worsham and Sean Porter, also part of the crew, and Joel Bisina, a peace mediator and founder of Niger Delta Professionals for Development in Warri.
The Americans "entered the country legally on April 5th, having notified authorities about their intentions to film and to make a visit to a library they had helped build," the independent film-making company said in the release.
A lawyer was retained for the group but has been denied contact with them as well as information on charges, according to the release.
A spokeswoman for "Sweet Crude" who has traveled with the group on two previous trips said the crew was aware of the potential danger.
"You don't go into a region like that assuming there couldn't be problems. It's always a possibility," Leslye Wood said.
She said she had not heard from any of the detained crew, but said she spoke with the State Department and was told that a representative from the embassy in Abuja was on the way to see the group.
"We're urgently calling on the State Department to intervene. We're working on many fronts to try to get that to happen and that's where our attention is right now," Wood said.
Various foreigners have been picked up in the Niger Delta in recent months as security forces have stepped up efforts to quell unrest in the region.
Several foreigners, including two documentary filmmakers, were expelled from the country on alleged visa violations. An American aid worker, long a resident in Nigeria, was arrested with those filmmakers and was charged with spying. The charges were later dropped and she was released.
Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer, pumps its crude from the Niger Delta, which remains deeply impoverished despite the natural bounty. Armed groups roam the region of creeks and swamps, stealing crude oil for resale and engaging in other criminal activities.
Some gunmen also launch militant attacks seeking to pressure the government to release their leaders and send more government-controlled oil revenues to the anarchic area. Their attacks have trimmed nearly one quarter of Nigeria's daily crude output, helping to send oil prices soaring to historic highs in global markets.
The government considers all the gunmen criminals.
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Associated Press writer Donna Gordon Blankinship contributed to this report from Seattle. |