Dakar/Brussels, 5 December 2007: Nigeria’s President Umaru Yar’Adua needs to act decisively to keep violence in the oil-rich Niger Delta from escalating and spreading.
Nigeria: Ending Unrest in the Niger Delta,* the latest International Crisis Group report, examines steps needed to address the conflict’s root causes and stop the region from slipping back into chaos. The May inauguration of new federal and state governments and the truce declared shortly after by armed groups created an opportunity, but attacks on oil installations by militants and kidnappings by criminals are again on the rise.
“Hostage-taking has turned into a lucrative, criminally-driven enterprise”, says Nnamdi Obasi, Crisis Group’s Senior Analyst. “This practice is threatening to spread beyond the core Niger Delta to other parts of the country”.
Yar’Adua’s early statements and actions had raised hopes in the Delta. Following his election, he initiated consultations with ethnic and militant organisations and endorsed the regional development plan launched by his predecessor, Olusegun Obasanjo, in March. However, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has lost patience with the government’s failure to address the Delta’s core demands and has resumed attacks on oil installations and hostage-taking. The security situation, already aggravated by clashes between politically-sponsored criminal gangs in Rivers State in August, could be worsened by deepening splits within the Delta’s major militant groups. Full Story
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