Monday 15th September 2008

 MEND declare war!
 Attack on Shell infrastructure
 Chevron confirms attack on platform
 MEND claim hostages injured
 Again, UK clarifies position on Niger Delta
 And then there’s this…

[pay]

MEND declare war!

 
Nigeria’s most prominent militant group declared an “oil war” on Sunday and warned all oil workers to evacuate the delta immediately, threatening to further disrupt production in the world’s eighth largest oil exporter.
MEND Statement: “Following a previous warning that any attack on our positions will be tantamount to a declaration of an oil war, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has declared an oil war in response to the unprovoked aerial and marine attacks on a MEND position in Rivers state of Nigeria on September 13, 2008 by the armed forces of Nigeria.

About 0100 Hrs, today, September 14, 2008, Hurricane Barbarossa commenced with heavily armed fighters in hundreds of war boats filing out from different MEND bases across the Niger Delta in solidarity to carry out destructive and deadly attacks on the oil industry in Rivers state. By dawn, destroyed oil flow stations, gun boats, burst pipelines, dead and injured soldiers trailed in the aftermath of the “hurricane”.

Some specific locations include the Soku Gas Plant, Chevron Platform at Kula, over 22 well armed soldiers sent as reinforcement were intercepted, killed and dispossessed of their weapons, a major crude trunk pipeline at Nembe creek was blown up at several points. The operation will continue until the government of Nigeria appreciates that the solution to peace in the Niger Delta is justice, respect and dialogue. This military style bullying belongs to the past 50 years when the Niger Delta people responded only with their mouths, pens and placards.

All international oil and gas loading vessels entering the region are warned to drop anchor in the high sea or divert elsewhere until further notice. Failure to comply is taking a foolhardy risk of attack and destruction of the vessel. Again, we are asking that oil companies evacuate their staff from their field facilities because the brief is not to capture hostages but to bring these structures to the ground. Jomo Gbomo”

 
Comment: It is unclear if the declaration will have any real effect on the ground in the Niger Delta. Neither side has sought a full-blown civil war, although Nigerian media have reported that some elements in the military were pushing for more-robust attacks on the militants.

 
MEND is a loose alliance of militant and criminal gangs who steal oil for sale overseas. Most fighting is focused on hitting the oil industry, but a full-scale conflict with the military could leave the country’s oil-pumping infrastructure in tatters, while jeopardizing the militants’ own lucrative oil trade. International oil companies would struggle to maintain the thousands of miles of pipelines connecting wells to export terminals. A shutdown of all oil production from Nigeria, one of the world’s top producers and an OPEC member, would cause further spikes in international oil prices.

 
Large-scale battles between the militants and military are rare. While the military often skirmishes with gunmen during chance boat encounters on the region’s waterways, it has avoided major attacks on militant camps and other permanent positions. The militants generally avoid the armed forces, sticking to the back creeks of the delta as they roam the region. The weekend’s battles are unusual examples of clashes between massed forces.

Attack on Shell infrastructure

 
Gunmen battled government early today in a third day of violence. Fighters riding in about 10 speedboats attacked security personnel guarding an oil-pumping station operated by Royal Dutch Shell PLC in a pre-dawn raid, touching off an hour long battle, said Lt. Col. Sagir Musa, a spokesman for the military. Musa a flow station was damaged during the battle and was on fire after the attack. “The attack lasted over an hour. Dynamite and bombs were massively detonated by the miscreants.” He said and added that no government forces were injured. Shell officials couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

 
Breaking News: MEND Militants Claim Destruction of Shell Flow Station: In an e-mail issued this morning, MEND have claimed that it’s fighters destroyed the facility. “The Alakiri flow station has been completely destroyed,” Jomo Gbomo said.

 
MEND Statement: “At 0200 Hrs today, September 15, 2008, Hurricane Barbarossa continued its destructive sweep through Rivers state of Nigeria when the eye of the storm struck a direct hit at the expansive Alakiri flow station complex operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company.The facility was still burning when we left. Heavily armed fighters from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta stormed the facility and have razed it to the ground as promised.

The foolhardy workers and soldiers who did not heed our warning perished inside the station. Resistance was non existent as the soldiers fled their dug-in positions leaving behind their colleagues and the workers inside the facility to their fate. A word is enough for the wise. MEND reiterates its previous warnings to ALL oil workers in the entire Niger Delta region to evacuate from oil facilities and halt production with immediate effect or they will have themselves to blame.

We call on the wives of soldiers to convince their husbands to abandon this duty of injustice to avoid becoming widows. Families of oil workers should offer the same advice. International vessels should not come in to load crude oil. Owners of such vessels should be warned that the vessels will suffer the same fate of the Alakiri flow station. Hostages will not be taken. Do not be deceived. The Nigerian military can not protect you. Jomo Gbomo”

Chevron confirms attack on platform

 
Chevron has confirmed a shooting incident at one of its facilities yesterday. “At about 2.00 a.m. (0100 GMT) [Sunday], Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) … received reports of shooting in the area of its Robertkiri facilities, Rivers State. The attack has been reported to the appropriate government authorities and investigation is on-going. CNL is closely monitoring the situation,” Chevron said in a statement. The company said it did not have information to suggest that the attack was directed specifically at Chevron and said no expatriate workers were involved in the incident.

 
“As a result of on-going pipeline repair work the Robertkiri facility which produces into the Shell delivery pipeline had been shut-in prior to the incident. The shooting incident has not had any additional impact on current levels of CNL production,” company spokesman Scott Walker said in an email.

 
Background: Earlier in the day, a unit of the Nigerian army said its men repelled a militant attack on the Robertkiri facility in the early hours of the morning. “We successfully repelled the attack and there were no casualties on our side,” MEND, in an email to the media said that during the Chevron attack it “intercepted, killed and dispossessed of their weapons 22 well armed soldiers” who were sent in as reinforcements.

MEND claim hostages injured

 
The spokesman for MEND has claimed that JTF assaults on their camps on Saturday have resulted in the injury of some hostages. Jomo alleges that his men ‘rescued’ the expats and nationals from their captors on Friday night and transferred them to one of their own bases. Jomo is referring to workers and crew who were taken hostage after their vessel was hijacked last week. See Chief’s Briefs 10.09.08

 
MEND Statement: Subject: Update: Oil Workers/Civilian Community Trapped in Fighting. The 27 oil workers rescued [Friday] by MEND from the pirates that kidnapped them from the MT Blue Ocean and taken to the camp under attack to be offered as a reward leverage for the release of Henry Okah are trapped in the fighting between our fighters and the Nigerian military forces.

The workers are made up of five expatriates from Britain, South Africa and Ukraine, while the remaining twenty two are Nigerians. It was learnt that the military on faulty intelligence as usual embarked on what is now a botched rescue attempt. Some of the oil workers are injured but are being treated with the same local herbs we are using in treating our wounded.

The Red Cross or doctors from MSF should be allowed passage to attend to them. Injuries are mainly from high caliber machine guns and shrapnel. Meanwhile, two civilian communities; Elem Tombia and Ogboma have been razed to the ground by the rampaging soldiers who have not been able to take our positions. Civilian casualties are high. Jomo Gbomo”

 
Comment: The Joint Task Force has dismissed the claims that soldiers launched attack on their positions. Lt. Col. Sagir Musa said contrary to the claims of MEND that the military launched an offensive against its men, soldiers on routine patrol around Elem Tombia axis came under attack by some militants and they exchanged fire but that the incident was not a serious one and that no casualties were recorded.

 
MEND had in an initial statement said that it lost three of its “Commandos” in the aerial bombardment and that it shot at helicopters which raided its positions with RPG. An earlier statement by Jomo said the raid of its positions by the JTF started at 0900hrs and that MEND holds President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Rivers State government responsible for the casualties.

 
The JTF, explaining the exchange, stated that its increased patrol on the waterways were aimed at stopping the criminal elements which have been attacking, killing and dispossessing innocent people of their belongings.

 
“In order to checkmate recurrent sea piracy and related militants’ criminal acts on our waterways, the JTF Operation Flush III maintains regular marine patrol of identified notorious waterways. It was on such patrol that today (yesterday) at about 1035hrs at Elom Tombia that unknown group of militants opened fire on our patrol team which resulted in exchange of fire. The aircraft hovering around was just routine surveillance and reconnaissance. It was a minor encounter, no cause for alarm, no casualty recorded on our side and the situation is under control”, Sagir said.

 
At about 4.30pm, Jomo sent another mail saying the casualty figure has risen to seven on their side but could not state the number of soldiers killed by MEND snipers.

 
“1500 Hrs: Seven fighters have so far been lost in the attack by the army on our position in Rivers state with several others injured. Three army helicopter gunships returned and began firing missiles indiscriminately into the mangrove vegetation’s because of the excellent camouflage of our men and boats.

 
The River State government in its reaction to the development denied that it had a hand in the face off if any and vowed that it would not be cowed by threats from any group including MEND.

Again, UK clarifies position on Niger Delta

 
In what appears to be more back pedalling after Gordon Brown’s ill-advised comments on providing military support to the Nigerian government in the Niger Delta, the United Kingdom government has again said she was misunderstood over the nature of military assistance she offered.

 
Visiting United Kingdom Minister for Africa and Asia , Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, said the situation in the Delta was a developmental and political problem and did not require military solution. This was always the view of Britain and it has not changed, he added.

 
Nigeria and Britain discussed long-standing, long-running issues of economic and political development of Nigeria in London and Abuja. On both occasions, the minister noted, the issue of the Niger Delta was an ‘immediate’ one.

 
Background: Following the visit of President YRD to London two months ago, it had been reported that Britain intended military action in the Delta alongside Nigerian security forces. But Malloch-Brown said press reports exaggerated the content and context of the Nigeria-UK arrangement and gave the impression that Britain was sending military advisers, gunboats and equipment into the region. He said that this was not correct.

 
“When President Yar’Adua came to London in July, there was this unfortunate misunderstanding in the press, afterwards, that the UK government was going to help Nigeria solve the Niger Delta problem with more military aid. We didn’t; we have always held, first and foremost, that this is a political and a development problem,” he said.

And then there’s this…

Oil exploration in North‘ll reduce tension

 
A member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Godfrey Gaiya (PDP Jaba/Zango-Kataf/Kaduna) has described the on-going oil exploration exercise in the Northern part of the country as one of the ways to reduce the tension in the oil-bearing communities in the Niger Delta.

 
Gaiya, a geologist, said contrary to popular knowledge, that oil was first discovered in Sokoto State in marginal quantity in the 40’s. He said the North is not in any rat race to edge out its southern counterpart in resource endowment, but was only making a legitimate call for a viable exploration of oil deposits that may have been marginal some decades ago. The first-term lawmaker denied insinuations that the NNDC call for oil exploration at this time in the North by its indigenes was political.

 
Comment: We thought oil was first discovered in Nigeria in viable quantity in Oloibiri (Bayelsa State) in 1953 [pay]