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H16741

Headlines : Human Rights

Summary:

Intrigue surrounds the rebel movements in the Niger Delta. Long-standing and courageous fighters for liberation and equality (such as the Ogoni people, epitomized by the martyred Ken Saro-Wiwa) exist along-side more opportunistic criminal gangs.

MEND appeared around about the time that global oil prices began their stratospheric rise and has claimed to represent the oppressed peoples of the Delta. Since then, they have pursued a strategy of kidnappings and attacks on oil installations, helping to shut down huge areas of Nigeria’s oil production.

However, allegations have surrounded the group that all is not as it seems. CNN, for example, became embroiled in a scandal when it sacked a reporter, Jeff Koinange, for allegedly paying militants to stage an encounter, which he then developed into a major story about MEND’s campaign.

The U.S. Navy has been beefing up its presence in the Gulf of Guinea as Chinese investments in Nigeria’s oil have deepened. Is there a game afoot?

[Posted By Szamko]

By Staff
Republished from BBC News

MEND reaches out to the U.S. President

A leading militant group from Nigeria’s oil region has written to US President George Bush, asking him to help solve their dispute with the government.

In their open letter, the militants pointed out that the US receives a large proportion of its crude oil from the Niger Delta.

President Bush is on a tour of Africa but Nigeria is not on his itinerary.

Attacks by militants have drastically cut Nigeria’s production and helped drive up the price of oil.

The appeal came from a faction of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) loyal to Henry Okah.

[end excerpt]

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