MEND of an era in Nigeria?

SchNews
Activists and indigenous groups condemn Gordon Brown’s offer of military help for Shell in the Niger Delta.

At the G8 Gordon Brown promised to send equipment, trainers and ‘advisors’ to the Nigerian military to “ensure oil production can bring prosperity” and to make sure that there’s a ‘sustainable peace’ in the area.It’s very hard to make an obscene profit when locals keep attacking your oil platforms, as the oil giants have been finding out to their cost since the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) began its campaign in 2005.

MEND responded by saying their ceasefire with the Nigerian government was over, and that British interests would “suffer the consequences.” And they’re not known for making idle threats.

This Thursday, the 47,000 barrels-per-day Eni pipeline was blown up by attackers in what the company, in a rare candid moment, called a ‘community dispute’. The dispute in question is pretty clear; one between the community and the oil industry. Within 24 hours of this attack more than 30 militants attacked the naval boat protecting oil facilities belonging to Shell Petroleum Development Company.

Report by SchNews.