Movement For The Emancipation Of The Niger Delta (MEND)

Death rules the delta in battle to control oil

Kidnappings and ethnic war in Nigeria have one root cause - oil. The power struggles and corruption that flow from it have claimed thousands of lives. Eleven years after his own father was killed there, Ken Wiwa reports from the Niger Delta on the persistent conflict that is tearing the country apart

Sunday March 5, 2006
The Observer


In a hotel in the city of Warri in southern Nigeria, a mobile phone rings impatiently. Even at six in the morning the city is roasting under a fierce sun. Warri is waking up to another hard day in its hard history. Populated mainly by three ethnic groups, it has been the theatre for the fierce rivalry and drama that animates the Itshekiri, Urhobo and Ijaw. Money has since been poured onto this smouldering ethnic fire from the proceeds of oil, turning the city into an industrial beast with the character of a frontier town.

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At the end of the phone is a deep baritone voice. 'I am Adams of Mend,' the caller says, revealing himself as a member of the newly notorious militia, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta.
A few minutes after the call a new okada pulls up outside the hotel. A short young man steps off the small motorbike. 'Please come mister journalist, I know you,' he calls out, 'I am Adams of Mend.'

After a short bike ride and a two-hour speedboat journey, we arrive at a small village community to the west of Warri. As the boat comes to a stop, about 25 men emerge from a house, armed with AK 47 rifles and with rocket-fired grenades wrapped around their waists.

The insurgents don't bother to hide their identity. They are polite and friendly. At a thatched house in the community, which they insist on calling a 'camp', the militants showcase their arsenal, repeatedly insisting that they are prepared to go to war.

The history, politics and culture of the Niger River Delta is as rich, complex and intricate as the ecology of the Africa's largest floodplain. The delta covers an area of dense rainforest, sand ridges, mangrove forests and swamps with a labyrinthine distribution of tidal channels, streams, rivers and creeks. Rich in natural resources such as timber, coal, palm oil, natural gas and crude oil, it is also one of the most densely populated areas of the globe and one of the world's largest wetlands. And it is virtually impossible to patrol.

This rich but fragile ecosystem is often described as the heart and lungs of Nigeria and, since oil was discovered there in 1956, the region has delivered some $300bn to Nigeria's treasury.

It is the revenue from oil that keeps the 400 or so ethnic groups known as Nigeria together. Without it, the country might already have split. The kola nut that binds the agreement at the heart of the Nigerian constitution is known as the 'derivation formula'.

At independence in 1960, each of Nigeria's three regions was entitled to half the revenue from minerals found there, with the balance going to the federal government. Over the next 30 years fiscal chicanery reduced the formula so that the regions received as little as 1.3 per cent; central government got the rest.

In the Nineties my father, Ken Saro-Wiwa, stoked the embers of Niger Delta politics, agitating for a greater share of federal oil revenue. There had been a history of groups and movements demanding a greater share of the resources, the struggles alternating between violent and non-violent. One such movement, led by an Ijaw army officer, Isaac Boro, declared a Federal Republic of Niger Delta in 1966. It lasted 12 days. Boro was killed in mysterious circumstances during the Nigerian civil war but his memory has periodically fanned the flames of Niger Deltans and especially those of his Ijaw peoples who are the largest ethnic group in the region and the fourth-largest in Nigeria.

During his lifetime my father proselytised on behalf of the region but it wasn't until he anchored his political philosophy to the rights of the Ogoni that he attracted national and then global attention to the problems of the delta. His adoption of a non-violent approach was met with state violence by the then ruling military regime of General Sani Abacha.

In my father's final statement to the tribunal that convicted him in October 1995, he wrote: 'I predict that a denouement of the riddle of the Niger Delta will soon come. The agenda is being set at this trial. Whether the peaceful ways I have favoured will prevail depends on what the oppressor decides, what signals it sends out to the waiting public.'

It may come as a surprise to the visitor but Port Harcourt is known as the 'garden city'. Once a quiet, leafy place on the Atlantic coast, now the city's streets and neighbourhoods are a study in the challenges of governing Nigeria. The city's okada drivers and mass transit drivers appear to obey only one rule: to defy common sense and traffic regulations whenever possible. Despite road users' worst intentions, the Port Harcourt traffic is approaching manageable proportions and the city is enjoying a relatively peaceful dry season - but most people here are aware that the respite may be temporary. All the ingredients for civil strife are in the air: the city is not far from Owerri, scene of bloodshed over the Danish cartoons. Every week people pour in from Warri and the western Niger Delta, fleeing the upsurge in violence. Foreigners increasingly employ armed guards.

Almost as unquantifiable and uncontrollable as the delta itself is the informal network of armed youths who claim to be fighting for the emancipation of the Niger Delta.Their exact origins, size and operations are not easy to gauge. The lack of employment and career opportunities tempted many young graduates and unemployed youths into criminal syndicates.

A recent addition to criminal activities is oil bunkering - siphoning oil from pipelines onto barges, which are then sold on the high seas. Official estimates suggest that Nigeria loses 100,000 barrels daily through oil bunkering. The lucrative practice is rumoured to involve the complicity of oil company employees and highly placed government officials.

The full story is waiting to be told. Thus far only two naval officers have being held in connection with bunkering but it is an open secret among youths here that the 'business' is an alliance of mutually beneficial arrangements between officials, soldiers, ex-soldiers and the militias. If the business is shrouded in clandestine operations, the chain of violence is clear enough: Human Rights Watch says that oil bunkering is responsible for fuelling the gang-related violence in the delta that killed 1,000 Nigerians in 2004.

Port Harcourt and the eastern Niger Delta may be relatively calm - due to the non-violence that the Ogoni advocated - but there is a deeper irony in that much of the current instability in the Niger Delta can be traced to armed gangs that mushroomed and thrived there.

Beyond belonging to a mutual admiration society, Osama bin Laden and Niger Delta militia leader Alhaji Asari Dokubo have one other thing in common: the global oil markets respond to their actions. Asari Dokubo gained his notoriety in 2004 when his threat to blow up all oil facilities in the delta sent oil prices soaring above $50 for the first time. Calling his group the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force(NDPVF), Asari Dokubo claimed right up to his arrest in September 2005 that he had 10,000 men ready to reclaim the resources of the Niger Delta for its people.

Whether or not the figures are correct, the reality is that the NDPVF is a decentralised amalgam of groups working in cells that are connected only by a common ambition. For a time Asari Dokubo was clearly the leader but his star peaked after sending oil prices past the $50 barrier and waned once the Bush administration encouraged the Nigerian government to broker an arms for cash deal with the NDPVF.

The 'deal' is said to have caused some disagreements within the NDPVF, leading to the creation of the breakaway faction operating as Mend. Although the NDPVF's fortunes appear to be linked to the personality of Asari Dokubo, last week's demands by Mend that Asari Dokubo be freed would suggest that the network is intact and perhaps working under an umbrella movement.

Tackling oil bunkering is the nettle that needs to be grasped and government efforts to do so led, indirectly and unintentionally, to the recent spate of hostage taking and kidnappings.

If President Obasanjo had hoped that a Joint Military Task Force would cut off the supply of oil, arms and money to the militia, he will be disappointed by the results so far. Reports suggest that, rather than enforcing the peace, the activities of some members of the JTF, as the task force is known, have created resentment among local people and the militia.

'When we saw they were involved [in oil bunkering] the boys got angry,' one youth told us last week. 'Why should they take away the oil when they are not even from here?'

Other reports accuse the soldiers of taking over the lucrative boat rental business to oil companies, which used to be the preserve of local operators. 'Because of JTF, we are almost unemployed now. Officers go to the oil companies and supply them boats for security patrol. We charge less but the oil companies prefer them because of their military connection,' an operator told a reporter from one Nigerian newspaper.

The latest sequence of events began on 11 January when Mend militants stormed a Shell oil vessel and took four foreigners on board hostage. Mend made a three-pronged demand: the release of Asari Dokubo; freedom for the impeached Bayelsa State Governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who is on trial on money laundering charges; and payment of $1.5bn approved by the Nigerian Senate as compensation from Shell to communities affected by oil spills.

Four days later in a show of strength Mend militia attacked two houseboats, killing 15 JTF soldiers. Two weeks later Mend announced the release of the hostages on humanitarian grounds - and three communities were attacked by a JTF helicopter gunship. The JTF claimed the attacks were meant to stamp out oil bunkering but insiders insist that they were reprisal raids. Nine more hostages were taken in response to these attacks and, although six of them have since been released, the militia have vowed to fight on until the federal government meets their demands.

'We are continuing with our attacks on oil facilities and oil workers. We will act without further warning,' they said.

So far they have not fulfilled their promise but the country is holding its breath. Oil markets are jittery and, although the situation appears to be contained in the delta for now, this being Nigeria, anything is possible.

Am not daft as some people may think i read situations and tell you the outcome as they say the truth is bitter   

OPEC set to keep taps open to cool oil prices
Fellow OPEC ministers lined up in support as they arrived in Vienna, drowning out price hawk Venezuela's call for the group to look at reducing production by 500,000 barrels daily.

ON A KNIFE EDGE


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While some in OPEC express concern about falling demand and rising oil stocks in the slack second quarter, analysts are looking with concern to the peak winter season.

Some fear OPEC, which pumps over a third of the world's oil, may struggle to meet rising demand if output problems persist.

Rebel attacks have knocked out about 20 percent of Nigerian output. Venezuela has yet to fully recover from oil worker strikes three years ago and Iran is struggling to sell its heavy, high sulfur crude that is difficult to refine.

"The concern I have is that the third quarter and particularly the fourth quarter could get tight. Demand is going to pick up at the end of the year and OPEC is going to be going flat out to get there," said analyst John Hall of John Hall Associates.

Demand from the United States, consumer of a quarter of the world's oil, and China has been the main driver in a rally that has seen prices double in the past two years.

So far the world economy has coped but analysts say an upward shift of $10 a barrel for about two years would begin to bite, driving inflation about 0.25 percent a year higher and paring growth by the same amount.

Hostages: The Militants’ Riot Act
By Segun James, 03.07.2006

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When in another daring move reminiscent of what happened in January, when four foreign oil workers were abducted at a Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) location in offshore Bayelsa State, Ijaw youths took another nine expatriates oil workers as hostage, no one was surprise except possibly the Federal Government.
Government had earlier ordered the military to attack alleged illegal oil bunkerers in one of the riverine Ijaw community. In the retaliation, youths of the community proceeded not only to confront the men of the Nigerian Armed Forces, but also destroyed valuable economic property of the nation.
This action of the youths signaled a new dimension in what is happening in the Niger Delta and as the youths, this time around were ready to dare all to tell the world that the Nigerian Government has lost control over what is happening within its borders, most especially in the oil rich Niger Delta, land which produces the minerals that sustain the nation’s economy.
Before now, it was unheard of that anybody would confront the army and get away with it.  In December, 1999 when 12 policemen were brutally murdered by suspected Ijaw youths at Odi in Bayelsa state, the entire town paid the price as the community was completely leveled by the Nigerian Military.
Determined to “take their future in their own hands”, the youths confronted the Federal Government and struck where it matters most: the economic nerve centre, the oil export terminal an action that forced the government to set process of negotiation negotiate with the militant youths.
However, what is generally agreed by almost everyone is that the Niger Delta is a most neglected, pathetic and pitiable part of Nigeria. However, the attack on the early hours of Saturday February 18, by the dare-devil Ijaw commandos on specifically selected and strategically located oil facilities and installations in the western Niger Delta was devastating.
To prove that they are really ready for whatever retaliatory move the government would make in response to their action, the youth took as hostages nine expatriates working for an oil servicing company on contract with Shell, the nation’s largest oil producing company.
And so the negotiation for the release of the nine men who are from America, Britain, Thailand, Egypt, and the Philippines began. Humbled, the tough talking Federal Government was forced to eat its words by choosing to negotiate with the militants.
Even the Delta State Governor, Chief James Ibori in order to avoid his state becoming a theater of war, went the extra mile to talk to the militants. Before then, it was assumed that the faceless members of the group-- Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) were responsible for the attack as the group continued to make inflammatory statements. In addition, another militant group in Okerenkoko and Gbaramatu: Federated Niger Delta Ijaw Communities (FNDIC) was fingered as being responsible for the statements and other attacks.  The group is led by Chief Oboko Bello.
Bello was immediately contacted and negotiation started between the group and government representatives led by another Gbaramatu leader, Chief Jonathan Ari. The Bello team made a ten point demand that must be met by the government before the hostages are to be released.
The demands of FNDIC which is contained in a letter addressed to President Olusegun Obasanjo and signed by Chief Bello Oboko, President; Mr. Kingsley Otuaro, secretary general, Chief Government Ekpomupolo, director of mobilisation, Hon. George Timinimi, spokesman and Comrade Dan Ekpebide, chief adviser include that government should create the conducive environment necessary for dialogue.
Other demands for the release of the remaining three hostages, the group insist that government must:
•Ensure that oil companies no longer operate behind the terror of soldiers, disband the security Joint Task Force and demilitarise Ijaw land;
•Stop further pollution and extinguish all gas flares now.
•For peaceful resolution of the situation, set up a credible government negotiation team with sufficient authority to take far-reaching decision on behalf of government.
•The Ijaw will set up a negotiation team of elders, women and youths.
•Any discussion with the Ijaw should take place in an acceptable place and not in places that will evoke the memories of Ijaw impoverishment.
•The Ijaw intend to chronicle their demands for consideration when and only when there is sufficient willingness on the part of government to dialogue and their negotiating team put in place.
•For lasting resolution of the situation, vendetta, reprisal, witch-hunting be ruled out.
• Out of sight is out of mind. To keep at a distant issues of violence, aggressive rehabilitation programme of Ijaw youths be embarked upon.
•The peace process should be coordinated and facilitated by a neutral world recognised peace building organisation.
•International observers be accredited and allowed to observe proceedings.

In order to show its magnanimity, FDNIC agreed to release one of the hostages, 69 years old Macon Hawkins, an American who is frail and sick with diabetic. Governor James Ibori persuade the group to release five more so that he would  have a  bargaining chip that he can use when negotiating with  the Federal Government on the issues raised by the group.
That the federal government was humbled by a group of marauding youths became evident when Ibori had to personally take the letter of demand to Obasanjo in Abuja on Thursday, a few hours after the men were released.
Now the fate of the remaining three men is unknown even as news of the presence of men of the Anti-terrorist Group of the American Marine continued to filter in. The militants who are now garrisoned in their “Aso Rock Barracks” in Okerenkoko said they are waiting.
The barrack is located within a number houses built by Bilfinger and Berger Oil and Gas Company (B+B), a subsidiary of construction giant, Julius Berger Nigeria Limited when it had a construction job in the area for Shell. The company was however forced to abandon the area and flee at the height of the Warri crisis.
The buildings were immediately converted to barracks by the army of FNDIC with Chief Government Ekpomupolo as the general officer commanding (GOC).
It was at this barrack that the men of the Joint Task Force (JTF) on the Niger Delta, Operation Restore Hope wanted to destroy when the helicopter of the Nigerian Air Force bombarded Okerenkoko on February 15 and 17, a situation which led to the reprisal action by the youths.
The military decided to use aerial bombardment because Okerenkoko had become a “No Go” area for men of the Nigerian Armed Forces. Even when in 2002 and 2003 the men of the Nigeria Navy attempted to take the town, they suffer humiliating defeats.
It was such defeats that prompted the use of the Air Force plane instead of invading the well garrisoned town through the waterways, the only way in. Even as the boys hold on to the three remaining expatriates, they have ordered the venerable out of Okerenkoko as they prepare for more battle.
Right now, the Federal Government has suffered humiliating defeat while the nation’s economy has continued to suffer as almost 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day has been closed down, a loss of almost 20 per cent of the nation’s total oil out put.
The question that is now agitating the minds of many is whether the Federal Government is going to renege on the agreement reached with the boys and dare another attack in order to save face? That is the question and only time will tell.

Since a handful of the world's oil producers are concentrated in one region they can act as a cartel to dictate the terms on world oil markets and manipulate prices.

These producers, having no accountability, use oil revenues to increase military expenditures, and thus destabilize regional balance.

They use oil revenues as a means to maintain their hold on power including yielding to terrorists' pressures and thus are constantly exposed to insecurity.

For energy and national security, US military presence in the region is inevitable. This adds more tensions and a deepening rift between the pro-American oppressive regimes and the oppressed.

China's increasing arms sales to some Middle Eastern countries hostile to the US and its allies to ensure its access to oil will also add to tensions in the region. 

Delta residents want to share in the region's oil wealth.
These are the people oooooooooooooooooooooo make una small small oooo

@mingiix; me too don tire for those long thesis.

  hmmmm

JIhad = Isaac boro

I particularly like the statement credited to Gov. Ibori

"Now that they have been released, the pertinent issues raised by the youths on the Niger Delta condition will have to be addressed."

He who has ears in Aso Rock should hearken unto what has been said.

Can Ibori account for billions of naira he'd collected since coming to the state government in 1999 or is this a statement to extort more money for thieving?

Oil is the opium of the lazy Nigerian govt. they cannot articulate and execute simple programmes for/on any facet of our society.
the mention of Niger Delta makes them forget they are Ibo, Yuroba and Hausa. they only want to impoverish and subjugate the Delta people.

@ono

Is that not what NDDC was created to do with its Niger delta regional development master plan?

I think MEND is trying to send a massage to uncle sege as regards the poor welfare package to the Niger Delta people.The federal govt. wont know if you are dying until you tell them,and that is a better way to tell them

Tell me why is it that the owners of the land in which the govt.makes their wealth from are the poorest ?

You'LL WAIT FOR A VERY LOOOOOONG TIME BUDDY.
ARE YOU READY TO LIVE FOREVER? THAT'S PROBABLY HOW LONG You MAY HAVE TO WAIT

But, Otokx, OBJ is known to be the type that loves ''talking much and doing less'' He sets up committees and special task forces here and there, bulldogs without teeths. Successive governments in the country (since independent) have paid only lip service to the plight of the Niger Delta people. How do I know at this time that OBJ did not just call that meeting in order to feed the folks that went there with pork and avian flu infested chickens from Ota farms, like I actually predicted some time ago?

That's why I respect the Ijaw people. They stood by their leader (E.K. Clark) and refused to be fed with pork pepper soup at Abuja.

Except I see Julius Berger relocate 80% of its equipment from Abuja (to do serious business of road construction, hospital and other health care centres, recreation centres, Housing etc etc) to the Core Niger Delta states of Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwaibom, I will not believe OBJ one minute. And like the Ijaws stated, I will take it as another jamboree meeting that will be fruitless.

was E.K. clark in Abuja? and what were they fed with since as you say they rejected the  pork pepper soup?