[size=15pt]Militants set to destroy oil facilities [/size] -

After battle with military - Give oil workers 24 hrs to leave Niger Delta
Bolaji Ogundele, Port Harcourt, with Agency Report - 15.09.2008

MILITANTS in the Niger Delta on Sunday declared war on oil facilities in the region as they reportedly suffered fresh heavy casualties after an exchange of gunfire with soldiers guarding two oil facilities at Soku and Robertkiri in Rivers State.


The militants had earlier before the attack, on Sunday, warned oil firms in the Niger Delta to withdraw their workers within 24 hours or face a ‘hurricane’ of retaliation after a major gun battle with security forces on Saturday.


Apparently in response to the heavy loss, the umbrella body of the militants, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), said in an electronic statement that it had declared an “oil war” on the oil industry in the Niger Delta.


The militant group said the oil war was “in response to the unprovoked aerial and marine attacks on a MEND position in Rivers State of Nigeria on September 13, 2008 by the armed forces of Nigeria.”


Spokesman for the Joint Military Task Force III, Lt. Colonel Musa Sagir, told the Nigerian Tribune that the militants had earlier confronted troops on marine patrol at the Elem Tombia creek in which a number of militants were killed, noting that the attack on Soku and Robertkiri facilities was a fight back by the armed group.


He claimed that the militants met active resistance from the troops guarding the facilities, as the soldiers “heroically and successfully repelled the attacks with casualties on the side of the miscreants.” Sagir said that one soldier was wounded, while no death was recorded on the side of the Nigerian military.


But MEND’s statement, signed by Jomo Gbomo, claimed it killed over 22 well armed soldiers at Soku Gas Plant and Chevron Platform at Kula, while a major crude trunk pipeline at Nembe creek was blown up at several points.


The group said “about 0100 hrs on September 14, 2008, Hurricane Barbarossa commenced with heavily armed fighters in hundreds of war boats filing out from different MEND bases across the Niger Delta in solidarity to carry out destructive and deadly attacks on the oil industry in Rivers State.”


It warned that “the operation will continue until the government of Nigeria appreciates that the solution to peace in the Niger Delta is justice, respect and dialogue,” noting that the “military-style bullying belongs to the past 50 years when the Niger Delta people responded only with their mouths, pens and placards.


“All international oil and gas loading vessels entering the region are warned to drop anchor in the high sea or divert elsewhere until further notice. Failure to comply is taking a foolhardy risk of attack and destruction of the vessel,” Gbomo summed.


“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," MEND said.


Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil, Total, Eni and Chevron are among the numerous oil companies that operate in the restive Niger Delta, the main source of Nigeria's two million barrels per day output.


A Shell spokesman in Nigeria said the company did not comment on security matters. However, the Pro- National Conference Organisation (PRONACO), on Sunday condemned the orgy of violence on the Niger Delta region and charged the 40-member Technical Committee on the Niger Delta to be focused and unwavering in the urgent task of laying the ground for the stability and development of the region.


PRONACO said that the Niger Delta could be on the verge of recovery if the technical committee was allowed to do its work without distraction, but with utmost concern for the impoverished masses of the region, who deserved urgent attention if the region must survive its present pressure.

source:http://www.tribune.com.ng/15092008/news/news1.html