NIGERIA: Nigerian rebels say they will hit all oil foreign producers, while residents in the oil-rich Niger Delta deplore local conditions.

Record ID: 236564

  • Title: NIGERIA: Nigerian rebels say they will hit all oil foreign producers, while residents in the oil-rich Niger Delta deplore local conditions.
  • Date: 19th January 2006
  • Summary: CLOSE OF NEWSPAPER HEADLINES WITH WORDS "PRESIDENT OBASANJO PLEADS FOR KIDNAPPED OIL WORKERS"
  • Embargoed: 3rd February 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Topics: War / Fighting,Industry
  • Reuters ID: LVABMJ00TMNHEGAN20UM15ULHY75
  • Story Text: Militants behind a string of attacks aimed at disrupting Nigeria's oil industry said they intended to target all producers in the country.
    The rebel Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta has kidnapped four foreign oil workers and waged a month-long campaign of violence against oil pipelines and platforms in the Niger delta. The attacks have cut 221,000 barrels a day of Royal Dutch Shell's production -- roughly a tenth of the output from the world's eighth largest exporter.
    On Wednesday it said it had widened its attacks to include Agip and Total. Both companies denied this.
    On Thursday (January 19), the kidnappers said the four foreign oil workers being held hostage will not be harmed unless the government attempts a rescue. The militants insisted on demands that two ethnic Ijaw leaders be released for them to consider a temporary suspension of attacks on oil installations.
    In the Niger Delta city of Warri on Wednesday (January 18) it was clear that even if locals were not actively supporting the rebels, they thought it was time that oil companies and the Nigerian government did more to improve the lives of people living in the oil-rich region.
    Local Ijaw chief and former Shell contractor Daniel Okoguale said both government and private companies were reneging on their social responsibilities.
    "Take a look at our standards of living," Okoguale said on Wednesday (January 18).
    "Take a look at our schools, our roads and the unemployment of the youths in this area. It is very deplorable and could lead to anything. Though I am not supporting the boys one hundred percent, but government should be able to come to a round table and provide solutions to this lingering Niger Delta problem. The oil companies should not be relying on the government for a compromise only. They should come on their own and see what they can do to solve this problem because they have more interests there, in the Niger Delta."
    So far, Shell is the only major operator to have said it suffered at the hands of the ethnic Ijaw militants, who are demanding greater control for the impoverished local people over the delta's enormous oil wealth.
    Oil industry executives met government officials on Wednesday in Abuja to discuss security in the delta's mangrove swamps and tidal creeks.
    Analysts say the violence is part of growing political rivalry between the regions in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, ahead of 2007 presidential elections. An Ijaw uprising before 2003 elections hit 40 percent of Nigeria's production.
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