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Terrorist
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The Movement
For The Emancipation of The Niger Delta |
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Nigerian Militant
Group Declares War Against Oil Companies |
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This page was updated
on September 21, 2008
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Update 9/21/2008:
Nigeria's main
militant group has declared a ceasefire, following a week of
attacks on oil installations in the country's oil-rich Niger
Delta. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend)
said it had taken the decision after appeals from tribal leaders
in the region. But it warned it would end the truce if
attacked by the army again. Mend declared "war" on Nigeria's
oil industry last Sunday after a fierce military raid on one of
its bases. Groups such as Mend claim to be fighting for
greater control over oil wealth in the impoverished Niger Delta,
but they are accused of making money from criminal rackets and
trade in stolen oil. |
If you think the average American is fed up with greedy oil
companies draining all the loose change out of their jars just to
keep the family car on the road you will be shocked at how The
Movement For The Emancipation Of The Niger Delta terrorist
organization is dealing with what they see is an
exploitation by big oil of the people and resources of the Niger
Delta along central Africa's Western Coastline.
Nigeria is Africa's largest and most complex country, with a
population of 120 million people from over 250 tribes. The vast,
swampy terrain of the Niger Delta region supports almost 20
million people, many of them in isolated communities only
accessible by boat. The Niger Delta serves as the economic nerve
center of the Nigeria Federation with its vast oil deposits.
Presently, crude oil accounts for about 85% of the nation's
revenue. Oil from the Niger Delta accounts for 20% of oil supply
to the US, and has become increasingly important from a strategic
perspective as conflicts continue in the Middle East.
This blessing has become a curse for the people of the Niger
Delta. They have suffered environmental devastation, economic
poverty, and constant conflict. To make matters even worse,
political considerations and greed on the part of a corrupt
government partnered with some of the biggest names in oil have
kept many of the revenue from these vast reserves from returning
to the Niger Delta to help protect and restore the damage don to
the region
| For the last fifty years since Nigeria declared
independence from British colonial rule, oil has been produced in
the country. Throughout this period corporate politics has worked
with successive dictatorships. Under these dictatorships Nigeria
has enacted laws that gave up oil resources and placed these under
the control of international oil companies, such as Chevron, and
most notably, Shell. The Movement For The Emancipation of the
Niger Delta, known as MEND, is fighting for the complete control
of the Oil wealth attributed to the Niger Delta's abundance of the
black gold that is creating tensions around the globe as fear
grows that future supplies are dwindling. MEND feels that
locals in the region have been forced to live in poverty without
being provided the simplest of necessities as big oil companies
supported by a series of dictators have destroyed their
environment and shifted the money to other parts of Nigeria and
around the globe. Everyone is benefiting from the resource
except for the people of the Niger Delta. |
Map of
Nigeria
 |
From the point of view of MEND, and its supporters, the people of
the Niger Delta have suffered an unprecedented degradation of
their environment due to unchecked pollution produced by the oil
industry. As a result of this policy of dispossessing people from
their lands in favor of foreign oil interests, within a single
generation, many now have no ability to fish or farm. Their
environment is being overran and ruined. When oil production
activities are intensified or activated in a very dedicated
manner, riverbank erosion results, gas flares occur frequently,
forests are cut down, rivers and streams are dredged, turned into
canals or blocked and then polluted. Farms and sacred lands are
not spared either; they may be acquired for oil and gas
development or polluted, as production gets under way. Anything
that is seen to obstruct or have the semblance of serving as
obstruction to the free flow of oil is uprooted and destroyed,
whether it is a human being, a community or a stream
Nigeria is one of the world's biggest oil exporters and yet most
Delta residents live in poverty.
While Mend and the other militant groups claim to be standing up
for Delta residents, other locals feel they are just oil thieves.
The region is home to a huge industry of stealing oil and selling
it on the black market.
This trade is believed to fund the purchase of weapons.
In a January 2006 email MEND warned the oil industry, "It must be
clear that the Nigerian government cannot protect your workers or
assets. Leave our land while you can or die in it.... Our aim is
to totally destroy the capacity of the Nigerian government to
export oil
Mend is at war with it's government and the victim is often the oil
companies operating in the country. The group says it will not
quit until all foreign companies leave the Delta and no longer deal
with the Nigerian government.
The September
2008 MEND Attacks:
September 19, 2008 Nigeria's main militant group, the Movement
for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, says it attacked a fifth oil
facility in the strife-torn Niger southern Niger Delta. The region has
been wracked by five days of stepped-up raids on oil installations
since rebels declared an oil war last weekend.
September 17, 2008 Nigerian militants threatened on Wednesday to
broaden their "oil war" to offshore oilfields and announced attacks on
a crude oil pipeline in the Niger Delta and another Shell-operated
facility. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta
(MEND), responsible for attacks that have cut a fifth of OPEC member
Nigeria's oil output, said it would launch attacks outside Rivers
state for the first time since clashes began on Saturday The
heaviest fighting between militants and security forces in more than
two years has spread to about 10 villages in Rivers state, home to oil
city Port Harcourt. Some private security sources estimate dozens have
died.
September 16, 2008 The most prominent armed group in southern Nigeria
said early Wednesday it has destroyed the Orubiri flow station
operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company in Rivers state.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said it
carried out the attack in cooperation with another armed group, the
Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF). "About 2200 (2100 GMT) on Tuesday,
September 16, 2008, fighters from MEND and the NDVF in a new alliance
attacked and destroyed the Orubiri flow station," MEND said in an
email to the media. There was no immediate comment from Shell, but
since MEND first evoked a possible war on the oil industry on Saturday
there have already been two attacks on Shell facilities and two
"shooting incidents" at facilities operated by US oil giant Chevron.
September 14, 2008 The main militant group in Nigeria's oil-rich
southern region, has vowed massive retaliation for Saturday's
offensive on its positions by the army. Gilbert da Costa has more in
this report from Abuja. The Movement for the Emancipation of the
Niger Delta, is warning oil companies to pull workers out in the next
24 hours or face what it called "a hurricane of retaliation.
The group has threatened to extend its raids to the other major oil
states, Bayelsa and Delta and also to attack the country's two big
deep offshore fields, Shell's Bonga and Chevron's Agbami.
In June MEND staged an attack on Bonga, a field which had until then
been thought safely out of the reach of militant attacks.
Since it first emerged in early 2006 MEND, which says it is fighting
for a larger share of southern Nigeria's oil revenue to go to local
people, has cut Nigeria's oil production by more than one quarter.
Swarm-based maneuvers: Guerrillas are using speed boats in the Niger
Delta's swamps to quickly attack targets in succession. Multiple,
highly maneuverable units have kept the government and Shell's
defensive systems off-balance defending the sprawling network.
Radically improved firepower and combat training: allowing guerrillas
to overpower a combination of Shell's Western-trained private military
guards and elite Nigerian units in several engagements. (One of
Shell's private military operators was captured as a hostage.)
Effective use of system disruption: Targets have been systematically
and accurately selected to completely shut down production and delay
and/or halt repairs, and the guerrillas are making effective use of
Shell's hostages to coerce both the government and the company.
Movement
For The Emancipation Of The Niger Delta Terrorist Attacks
May 10, 2006, an executive with the United States-based oil company,
Baker Hughes, was shot and killed in the south-eastern city of Port
Harcourt.
June 2, 2006 a Norwegian rig offshore Nigeria was attacked and 16 crew
members were kidnapped. According to the news agency Reuters, MEND has
not taken responsibility for this attack.
August 20, 2006, 10 MEND members were killed by the Nigerian military.
The members were working on releasing a Royal Dutch Shell hostage. In
an email to REUTERS, MEND stated, "Our response to Sunday's killings
will come at our time, but for certain it will not go unpunished."
October 2, 2006, 10 Nigerian soldiers were killed off the shore of the
Niger Delta in their patrol boat by a MEND mortar shell. Earlier that
day a Nigerian/Royal Dutch Shell convoy was attacked in the Port
Harcourt region resulting in some people being wounded.
October 3, 2006, a militant group abducted four Scots, a Malaysian, an
Indonesian and a Romanian from a bar in Akwa Ibom state.
October 4, 2006, Nigerian soldiers attacked a militant camp, in the
ensuing battle 9 Nigerian soldiers were killed.
November 22, 2006, Nigerian soldiers attempted a rescue of kidnapped
oil workers which resulted in one soldier being killed.
May 1, 2007, MEND seized six expatriate workers from an offshore oil
facility owned by Chevron. The group of six consisted of four
Italians, an American and a Croat. On the same day, MEND published
photos of the captives seated on white plastic chairs in a wooden
shelter around the remains of a campfire.
May 3, 2007, MEND seized eight foreign hostages from another offshore
vessel. The hostages were released less than 24 hours later, stating
they had intended to destroy the vessel and did not want more
hostages.
May 8, 2007, three major oil pipelines (one in Brass and two in the
Akasa area) were attacked, shutting down oil production and cutting
power to a facility run by Italian oil company Agip, part of the ENI
energy group. An e-mail statement from a MEND spokesperson said,
"Fighters of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta
(MEND) attacked and destroyed three major pipelines in Bayelsa
state... We will continue indefinitely with attacks on all pipelines,
platforms and support vessels."
September 23, 2007, a MEND spokesperson named Jomo Gbomo informed,
through a letter, that MEND had officially declared war, effective 12
midnight, September 23, 2007, and that they would be commencing
"attacks on installations and abduction of expatriates."
November 13, 2007, MEND militants attacked Cameroonian soldiers on the
disputed Bakassi peninsula killing more than 20 soldiers. May 3,
2008, MEND militants attacked Shell-operated pipelines in Nigeria,
forcing the company to halt 170,000 barrels a day of exports of Bonny
Light crude. June 20, 2008, MEND naval forces attacked the
Shell-operated Bonga oil platform, shutting down 10% of Nigeria's oil
production in one fell swoop. The oil platform, Shell's flagship
project in the area capable of extracting a massive 200,000 barrels of
oil a day, was widely assumed to be outside the reach of the militants
due to its location 120km off-shore. This attack has demonstrated a
level of prowess and sophistication never before seen by the rebels
and it is now known that all of Nigeria's oil platforms are within
range of MEND attack.
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