Nigeria's Oil Delta Faces Escalation of Violence

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Gunmen storm an oil rig 40 miles offshore in the dead of night and capture eight foreign workers. Hostages are held in remote creeks for 38 days. Militants use mobile phones to blow up a car bomb at an army barracks.

ABUJA — Gunmen storm an oil rig 40 miles offshore in the dead of night and capture eight foreign workers. Hostages are held in remote creeks for 38 days. Militants use mobile phones to blow up a car bomb at an army barracks.


Before this year, none of this had happened in the troubled history of the Niger Delta in southern Nigeria, home to Africa's biggest oil industry. And analysts say the violence will get worse -- not least because of the government's response.


Already, the toll is heavy. An unknown number of people have been killed in militant attacks on oil facilities and in retaliatory army raids on riverine villages. And a quarter of Nigerian oil output has been shut down since February, threatening economic growth in Africa's most populous country.


The past five months have not been the bloodiest the region has known, nor the most devastating in terms of cuts in oil production. But security analysts worry about the increasingly ruthless and sophisticated tactics of local armed groups.


They say no Niger Delta group had previously staged an attack as far out to sea as a kidnapping raid on a deepwater rig on June 2. Hostage takings have lasted longer this year than ever before, and car bombings are new to the region.


"Nobody is safe, either onshore or offshore," said a security source.


"It's extremely worrying because the next step up could be an attack on a large offshore facility like Bonga," said the source, referring to a Royal Dutch Shell oilfield that produces over 200,000 barrels per day of crude.


"APPEASEMENT"


Violence in the delta has complex causes. Most of the region's inhabitants are dirt poor and they have seen few benefits from decades of oil extraction which has polluted their air and water, threatening livelihoods in fishing villages.


There are no roads, teachers or doctors in most parts of the delta, which is not connected to the national electricity grid.


This makes the region a fertile recruiting ground for armed groups, although most of these are better at kidnapping oil workers for ransom or stealing crude oil from pipelines than they are at fighting for the rights of their people.


Groups fight for control of the lucrative trade in stolen oil, while lawlessness and a web of corrupt relationships between politicians, the military and local militias ensures that anyone with enough guns or money makes a good profit.


The situation is further complicated by political struggles ahead of next year's elections, when powerful state governors' jobs will be up for grabs and patronage networks at stake.


Activists in the delta complain that the government applies quick-fixes but fails to address underlying problems.


Many were dismayed by the decision on May 19 to award an oil exploration license to Niger Delta United Oil, a vehicle for militants whose names have not been disclosed.


"It's temporary appeasement that plants the seeds for future disaster," said Miabiye Kuromiema, a leader of the Ijaw Youth Council which seeks to represent the delta's biggest tribe.


"No one knows who got the license so rightly or wrongly people are assuming it was given to those who have been agitating against the oil industry ... There is nothing to stop other groups from contending for benefits through violence."


RESOURCE CONTROL


The government said the award of the license would foster development because the company would reinvest in power and education for the community. However, this will be hard to monitor given the lack of transparency.


Furthermore, analysts say the militants do not have the capability to drill for oil and they are likely to hold the asset until the time is right to sell it for a profit.


President Olusegun Obasanjo, pressured into action by this year's unrest, invited politicians, activists and traditional rulers from the delta to a series of meetings that resulted in pledges of investments in infrastructure for the region.


But these fell well short of the popular demand for "resource control" or greater local power over oil wealth.


"Resource control is a genuine cause for many in the delta, and if you created a mechanism where it could work and where people felt they had a stake, you could create a more stable environment," said Antony Goldman, an independent risk analyst.


"Unfortunately Nigeria has perfected crisis management but nobody is thinking long-term," he said.


Source: Reuters


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