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Tuesday, November 23, 2010
An armed militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or more commonly known as MEND, has released a statement claiming that it has attacked a pipeline in the Niger Delta today. The attack occurred early in the morning on the Obidi-Refinery trunk line.
The Obidi-Refinery trunk line transports crude oil to the refinery in Warri, Delta state in the Niger Delta.
The attack was not immediately verifiable, but if accurate it is just the latest in a host of attacks on oil facilities over by the group in the Niger Delta in the past few weeks.
Whether the group is a legitimate splinter sect of MEND or another group altogether is unknown as statements from the group are now coming from a new email address. This group emailed a statement in early November saying that it had changed its email address; but perhaps the original spokesmen (Jomo Gbomo is thought to be several writers) changed the password so this group could no longer email the press. Since the amnesty there had been relative calm in the Delta until this new surge of attacks.
The statement emailed to media outlets said the attack did not mark the start of the campaign against the Nigerian oil industry that it had promised in a statement made earlier this month.
“This attack does not mark the start of our promised campaign against the Nigerian oil industry. This attack and similar attacks on pipelines which will take place within the next few days is a reminder to the Nigerian government of the futility of wasting the nations resources in combating militancy without addressing the underlying causes of agitation in the Niger Delta.”
The most recent statement went on to rile at the government saying “In our past press release, we exposed the false claims of the Nigerian military and government our assertions will easily be confirmed by the hostages and actions on the Nigerian government in the coming weeks.
“All militants “supposedly captured” by the Nigerian military will soon be driving around in the streets of the Niger Delta in expensive luxury cars.
“Jonathan will go to any length to decieve the nation and the world that he is in control of the agitation in the Niger Delta. This man is a fraud.”
Over the past couple months militants, whether they were the actual MEND or not, were responsible for quite a few attacks, including a bombing in Abuja on the occasion of the country’s 50 year anniversary that left more than a few dead. There have also been attacks on theHigh Island VII jackup rig on the Okoro Field, an ExxonMobil facility, and a Shell facility causing production to be shut in on two of the three attacks.
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