[i] I present to you. . . . . Live Unedited Nollywood in Niger-Delta.[/i]




The 27 oil workers rescued yesterday by MEND from the pirates that kidnapped them from the MT Blue Ocean and taken to the camp under attack to be offered as a reward leverage for the release of Henry Okah are trapped in the fighting between our fighters and the Nigerian military forces.

The workers are made up of five expatriates from Britain, South Africa and Ukraine, while the remaining twenty two are Nigerians.

It was learnt that the military on faulty intelligence as usual embarked on what is now a botched rescue attempt.

Some of the oil workers are injured but are being treated with the same local herbs we are using in treating our wounded. The Red Cross or doctors from MSF should be allowed passage to attend to them. Injuries are mainly from high caliber machine guns and shrapnel.

Meanwhile, two civilian communities; Elem Tombia and Ogboma have been razed to the ground by the rampaging soldiers who have not been able to take our positions. Civilian casualties are high.

Jomo Gbomo
-1500 Hrs: Seven fighters have so far been lost in the attack by the army on our position in Rivers state with several others injured. Three army helicopter gunships returned and began firing missiles indiscriminately into the mangrove vegetation's because of the excellent camouflage of our men and boats.

We can not tell the casualties from the army who have suffered some losses from sniper rifles.

This may be the beginning of a full scale oil war.
-Tombia, Rivers state, 1245 Hrs: MEND fighters have suffered about three casualties and RPG's were fired on two army attack helicopters that came at close range. We suspect one of them may have been damaged. The helicopters were repelled and have not returned. No news of enemy casualties. Fierce fighting is still going on with MEND fighters adopting guerrilla tactics.

-At about 0900 Hrs today, September 13, 2008, the armed forces of Nigeria began a full scale aerial and marine offensive on the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) positions and neighboring Ijaw communities in Rivers state with helicopter gunships, jet fighters and over 20 gun boats and landing crafts filled with heavily armed soldiers mainly from the northern axis of Nigeria.

We hold the governor of Rivers state and the president of Nigeria accountable for the genocide on the defenseless civilians who are bearing the brunt from indiscriminate airforce bombs.

All MEND positions in the Niger delta will respond to this unprovoked attack coming at a time the government is canvassing the so-called Niger Delta Ministry to hoodwink the people.

Rotimi Amaechi, the governor of Rivers state must realize that this action also puts his family and community at the risk of reprisals with dire consequences.

Oil companies are warned to move out their workers within the next 24 hours because a hurricane is about to sweep through oil installations in the entire Niger Delta region.

An update on the fighting will be continuously relayed.


http://saharareporters.com/www/news/detail/?id=718

God Bless America Nigeria.

God Bless America Nigeria.

abi this one dey dance galala 

baba go slow has become a man

THIS IS A RESPONSE BY ONE OF THE FORUMERS AT www.nigeriavillagesquare.com IT IS A MUST READ FOR EVERY JUSTICE AND PEACE LOVING PEOPLE OF THIS WORLD.




http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/board/showthread.php?t=76754&page=2

SPECIAL MINISTRY IS JUST ANOTHER BEGINNING OF THE BEGINNING!!! THE BEST IS YET TO COME!!! REMEMBER THAT I TOLD YOU SO IN PART 5&6 OF MY SERIES

Thank you for this post. I completely agree with you. The bone of contention, as I have written in part 6 of my series "How the Niger Deltans can get their freedom: The Action plan!," available on nigeriansinamerica.com is that chronicles of political events in Nigeria have proved beyond any reasonable doubts that THE NORTH CAN NOT BE TRUSTED!!! I am 100% sure that the special ministry of N.D. is another plot by the north and western countries to manipulate these people and the entire south. I am doubly sure that the new proposal is not born out of a sincere desire to ensure that justice reigns, but TO SAVE THEIR OIL/GAS INVESTMENTS, which are obviously lopsided deals to Nigeria. I have no doubts in my mind that 'it's going to be business as usual. The bitter truth is that Yaradua has NO CONCRETE PLAN FOR THE NIGER DELTA otherwise he would not had started with a summit and quickly take another U-turn to propose a special ministry. He is just carrying out the agenda of his western colonial masters - who are controlling him behind the curtains.

I appreciate Mr. Abati's efforts and time in writing on this volatile topic, at the same time, I want to make it clear that MY OPINION IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM HIS. There is more to the proposal than Mr. Abati has written. He has only managed to scratch the surface. I want to believe that he is not doing a PR work for anybody.

In addition, the APPROACH OF The federal republic of northern Nigeria IS NOT PROFESSIONAL. I will explain what I mean by this and make my position known in details in part 7 of my series "How the Niger deltans can get their freedom: The action plan! which will be available on nigeriansinamerica.com. I am goin to carry out a THOROUGH/DETAILED ANALYSIS of the new proposal vis a vis INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY, GLOBAL OIL AND GAS MARKETS AND THE PRESENT POLITICAL EVENTS UNFOLDING BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE UNITED STATES.

All I can say for now is that THE NIGER DELTANS MUST NOT ALLOW YARADUA OR/THE NORTH TO BRIBE OR BUY THEM WITH A FRACTION OF THEIR 'OWN' MONEY. They don't need anybody; including Yaradua, to set up any special ministry for them. All they need to do is to TAKE 'COMPLETE' CONTROL OF THEIR RESOURCES, 'RENEGOTIATE ALL' OIL AND GAS CONTRACTS THAT THE NORTH SIGNED WITH MULTINATIONALS WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT AND PROVIDE FOR THEMSELVES ALL THEY WANT. This is what I refered to as PARETO OPTIMAL in part 5 of my series. THE MILITANTS MUST SEEK FOR NOTHING BUT PARETO OPTIMAL!!! I will tell them how to achieve that in part 7 of my series.

The Niger Delta crisis is yet to reach a stage when the north, Britain and the United States will be on their knees BEGGING THE MILITANTS FOR PEACE 'ON THEIR OWN, I.E. THE MILITANTS' TERMS.' The militants should hold on to their position and not rush to embrace any special ministry. The most interesting proposal/part is yet to come. JUST HOLD ON TO YOUR POSITION. TIME IS ON YOUR SIDE AND IS WORKING IN YOUR FAVOUR. As I have written in part 5&6 of my series THE NORTH AND THE WEST NEED PEACE AND STABILITY MORE IN THE REGION NOW THAN THE INDIGENES BECAUSE THEY HAVE MUCH TO LOOSE. KNOWING THIS FACT IS A STRONG PSYCHOLOGICAL ADVANTAGE FOR THE MILITANTS.

And who is Yaradua by the way to dictate to us or the Niger deltans how they must live or spend their resources. In case we have SHORT MEMORY, then I will like to remind you that Yaradua was not only imposed on us through the worst election ever conducted in the history of Nigeria, but he is equally an INCOMPETENT, CORRUPT, VISIONLESS AND MORALLY BANKRUPT RULER like his predecessors. I wrote about that in part 4 of my series "One Nigeria: To be or not to be?



THIS IS THE BEST TIME TO CORRECT THE HISTORICAL TRAGEDY THE BRITISH FORCED ON US. THERE WILL BE NO OTHER AND BETTER TIME AGAIN! WE NEED TO SOLVE THIS ISSUE ONCE AND FOR ALL! IF WE BLOW IT, COMING GENERATIONS WILL NEVER FORGIVE US! Stay tuned!!!



PEACE IN THE DELTA WILL BE DETERMINED NOT IN THE AIRCONDITIONED SUITS IN ABUJA, BUT IN THE CREEKS - ASARI DOKUBO.

THIS IS JUST THE END OF THE BEGINNING OF ANOTHER BEGINNING!!!

Them never start. . . . if Amaechi is serious, he better lay off. . . . . . .all MEND hostages have been released unharmed except for that one Scottish guy who died when soldiers launched a botched rescue attempt.

When helicopter gunships and jet fighters join the fray, it is safe to assume that the line between a routine skirmish and the opening salvos of a full-blown war has been crossed, and that escalation and possible spread of the conflict are growing more likely by the day.

[center][size=14pt]Meeting the MEND militia[/size][/center]

The first thing that strikes you on meeting members of the MEND militia is the ease with which they travel. They are among people who not only identify with their cause but also go out of their way to offer protection from attacks by Nigerian soldiers.

The second thing you notice is that the militants, at least those elected to respond to questions, are articulate, well-educated, and conversant with the latest political developments at home and abroad.

MEND leaders are constantly on the move, extremely cautious, and do not personally take telephone calls, aware that soldiers hunting for them have electronic devices capable of pinpointing mobile phone signals.

My first meeting with MEND took place in a hotel room in Warri. I had sent word that I'd be arriving that Thursday afternoon, and would like to interview one or two MEND leaders. A local journalist said he would try to arrange the interview, but that getting hold of MEND leaders would depend on the level of Nigerian military presence in Warri that week.

I was in luck. I arrived in Warri when the peace process, initiated by FNDIC leaders, lawyer and environmental activist Oronto Douglas, and other Ijaw leaders, was still plodding on, and the Obasanjo government appeared willing to restrain the soldiers while the negotiations were concluded. A knock sounded on the door of my hotel room: A young man, casually dressed, stood there smiling.

Are you the MEND leader?" I asked, surprised. The media depicts MEND fighters as muscular masked men, clutching Kalashnikovs and adopting belligerent postures, as though ready to fire at the slightest provocation.

There is no such thing as MEND," he countered.

MEND is not an organization in the formal sense of the word, he explained. It is an idea, a principle underlying the slew of communal, civic, and youth movements that began to proliferate in the Niger Delta - particularly in the Ijaw-speaking areas - in the wake of General Babangida's failed 'structural adjustment" policies in the late 1980s.

These organizations pursued such goals as the end to military rule, the return of democratic civilian government, the creation of new states in ethnic minority areas, and an increase in the citizens' share of oil receipts. They used non-violent protest marches, advocacy in the mass media, petitions addressed to the government, and awareness-building seminars to press their case. However, as economic conditions worsened countrywide and Babangida annulled election results in mid-1993, a wave of desperation spread among urban youth.

Militant, communal youth organizations emerged in this period, drawing their membership from the Yoruba, Hausa, and Igbo ethnic groups. The youth militias began to arm. Clashes with the Nigerian military, and also among themselves, became a staple of Nigerian public life.

Political developments in the Ijaw territory followed a slightly different trajectory. Skirmishes between Ijaw youth and the oil companies operating in the Western Delta began in the late 1980s, when the youth complained that they had not been offered employment in the industry on their own doorstep, and which, to make matters worse, was destroying their rivers and farmlands.

Ijaw elders and community leaders mediated the dispute, and this process gave rise to new youth-led civic groups. Prominent among these were the Movement for the Survival of Ijaw Ethnic Nationality (MOSSIEND) and the Movement for Reparations to Ogbia (MORETO), an Ijaw clan in the central delta.

The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), founded in 1998, had united youth in a peaceful but powerful opposition to the exploitative activities of the oil companies and the federal government. The Kaiama Declaration, a document that spelled out the grievances of Ijaw youth, was the brainchild of the IYC leadership.

On the morning of February 15, 2006, government helicopter gunships attacked an Ijaw village. Government officials alleged that Okerenkoko and neighboring villages were centers of oil-bunkering activities. The gunships returned on February 17 and 18, killing several innocent people. Enraged youth all over Ijawland vowed revenge, triggering the birth of the MEND militia.

The founding core of MEND's membership is derived from the Gbaramatu Ijaw clan, which bore the brunt of the February 2006 attacks. But as already stated, MEND is not so much an organization as an idea into which many civic, communal; and political groups have bought.

MEND's strength and military successes so far lie in four key factors:

It has successfully tapped into the 50-year-old Ijaw quest for social and environmental justice in the Niger Delta. There is no village in the Niger Delta where MEND sympathizers do not exist. Consequently, the movement operates in friendly and cooperative terrain, able to mount attacks and meld into hamlets undetected.

Secondly, MEND is a loose coalition of armed militants that doesn't constrain the ability of the various units to make their own decisions and mount military attacks independently of the others. The units also co-ordinate with other units in joint expeditions when necessary. They are thus active in all parts of the delta, adopting hit-and-run tactics, making it difficult for Federal troops to box them into a particular area and launch a massive attack.

Thirdly, MEND militants fight in familiar territory, having fished and farmed since childhood in the Niger Delta The Nigerian Army and Navy have superior hardware, but they often lose their way in the unfamiliar terrain, rendering them ineffective and vulnerable.

Finally, MEND is an astute manipulator of the mass media, and has ensured that its case against the government and the oil companies has been clearly and eloquently made in Nigeria and worldwide.

MEND's weapon of choice is foreign oil workers. The Nigerian government is notorious for its cavalier attitude when the lives of its citizens are at stake. But other nations, particularly the US, France, United Kingdom, and Italy, all of which have massive oil installations in the Niger Delta, usually protest loudly when their citizens are taken hostage. MEND's most spectacular hostage-taking was carried out at Shell's Forcados oil terminal in February 2006. Militants grabbed nine expatriate workers employed by Willbros, an oil engineering firm under contract to Shell, and spirited them away in a speedboat. Following several weeks of negotiations between the militants, Ijaw leaders, the Obasanjo government, the oil companies, and the American and British governments, the last of the hostages (several had been released previously) were set free.

Since MEND began to take hostages early in 2006, none have been harmed. (My note - one died since the article was written). Government officials have portrayed this aspect of MEND's activities as racketeering, claiming the militants usually extort ransom from the hostages and their governments before the victims are released. While it is true that some fringe elements in the Niger Delta have embraced kidnapping as a lucrative venture, they are not to be confused with MEND militants. The objective of the latter is fundamentally political: focus the attention of Western governments and the world on the Niger Delta when they grab these hostages, and announce their grievances against the Nigerian government in the blaze of publicity that follows.

The militia has also carefully positioned itself to derive maximum mileage from the activities of other militant groups, which, although not as well-organized or politically coherent, nevertheless shared similar grievances and regularly mounted their own military attacks on oil company facilities and government troops. MEND spokespeople deplore the actions of these groups when they veer away from the explicitly political objective of advancing the cause of self-determination and equitable sharing of oil receipts, but are quick to spring to their defense when soldiers and riot police attack them unjustly.

MEND's military exploits have not dented the offensive capabilities of Nigeria's armed forces. But they have demoralized the troops, and forced local journalists to question the combat-readiness and overall effectiveness of the army and navy. Most importantly, MEND has transformed the image of the Ijaw from hapless and quiescent victims popularized in the press - ever on the receiving end of atrocities deployed by the government and the oil companies - to an increasingly organized and assertive political bloc.


http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/West_Africa/BehindMask_NigerDelta.html

If this isn't properly managed it could lead to a protracted guerrilla war. The bad thing with a guerrilla warfare is that that unlike conventional warfare where 70% victory in 100% of the war zone is desirable, U will need 100% victory in 70% of the war zones to even measure some success.

Guerrillas hide within the poulation and draw a lot of sympathy. This war needs to be fought in the mindzone as opposed to where its is being waged now. The ealier we close our eyes tight and set a goal to create a world class city in the delta like singapore the better. We need the same tenacity of purpose and will to expend resources like we did in Abuja in the region. Only this time even more.

This is a battle we can win without bloodshed. Just sweatshead.

did u ever here of guerilla war against nazi troops, no, guerilla war can only be performed a against a kind army.

So said the Americans in Vietnam.