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Headlines : InternationalNigeria: "Total War" Declared On All Foreign Oil Interests
Nigeria’s Delta region is home to vast oil reserves, which make the country one of the world’s biggest oil exporters. But it remains poor, undeveloped and prone to violence. Now local ethnic Ijaw leader Muhahid Dokubu-Asari says he has moved on from stealing oil to fighting for the region’s independence.
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Remember Ken Saro-Wiwa!
[Posted By ShiftShapers]Republished from the BBC
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta has given oil companies and their employees until midnight on Friday night to leave the region.
It recently blew up two oil pipelines, held four foreign oil workers hostage and sabotaged two major oilfields.
The group wants greater control of the oil wealth produced on their land.
The warning came as militants and the army exchanged fire after a government helicopter gunship attacked barges allegedly used by smugglers to transport stolen crude oil.
Correspondents say the militants provide security for the smugglers.
Nigeria is Africa’s leading oil exporter and the fifth-biggest source of US oil imports, but despite its oil wealth, many Nigerians live in abject poverty.
Aims
It is the first time the military leader of the Mend movement, Major-General Godswill Tamuno, has spoken publicly of his group’s aims.
Nigeria’s oil hope and despair
He refused to be interviewed on tape or for his location to be disclosed.
He told the BBC’s Abdullahi Kaura Abubakar that they had launched their campaign, called “dark February”, to ensure that all foreign oil interests left.
He said that they had had enough of the exploitation of their resources and wanted to take total control of the area to get their fair share of the…
Posted by ShiftShapers
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It’s about time this kind of thing happened in Africa.
Nigeria, while being one of, if not the, largest oil-producing nation in Africa still has the same difficulties that most other African nations suffer. Government corruption, lack of infrastructure, education, increased levels of poverty, starvation and economic issues are commonplace. The only way Nigeria can afford anything is through oil sales, whose profits unfortunately get sucked out of the country due to limited native investment in the oil industry.
The unfortunate thing is that the militant group and the government aren’t actually working together. No doubt the government officials are sitting like fat cats while 99% of the people are living in poverty. The desperation of the people (albeit a small, small segment of the population) has escalated the situation towards violence.
See? When your government doesn’t act in your interests, sometimes you have to turn to the rifle. If only the American people would push forward like that ;)
Last time the region gained independence at least a million people died. And they eventually lost, because they did not have the support of the “arsenal of democracy”.
Nigeria gained independence from Britain in 1960, and the delta region declared independence from Nigeria in 1967, establishing the Rupublic of Biafra. Nigeria fought tooth and nail to keep their territory intact, as if GOD himself drew their border on the sixth day.