Nigeria rebels 'attack pipeline'

Nigeria rebels 'attack pipeline'

Mend says it has been fighting for fairer distribution of the Niger delta's oil wealth [File: EPA] Nigerian rebel fighters say they have attacked an oil pipeline operated by international oil giants Shell and Chevron in the south of the country. The attack in Rivers State on Saturday would be the first since an indefinite ceasefire was announced on October 25 in response to a government amnesty for fighters who gave up their arms. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) said in a statement the "warning strike [was] carried out by five boats involving 35 ... fighters armed with assault rifles, rocket launchers and heavy calibre machine guns." However, Royal Dutch Shell said it had received no reports of an attack on one of its facilities and the Nigerian military said it was still investigating whether the incident took place. "The military has received information of an attack and have deployed its men to Abonema to verify the truth of the claim and we can not sustain it at the moment," Timothy Aneigha, the spokesman for the military joint task force that operates in the Niger delta, said. 'Government stalling' Mend said that the attack was in response to the government using the ill-health of Umaru Yar'Adua, the president, to stall talks aimed at ending the long-running unrest in the Niger delta region. In depth Poor miss out on Nigeria's oil riches Yar'Adua, who is said to be suffering from acute pericarditis, an inflammation of the membrane covering the heart, has been in hospital in Saudi Arabia since November 23. "While the Nigerian government has conveniently tied the advancement of talks on the demands of this group to a sick president, it has not tied the repair of pipelines, exploitation of oil and gas as well as the deployment and retooling of troops in the region to the president's ill health," it said. "While wishing the president a speedy recovery, a situation where the future of the Niger Delta is tied to the health and well being of one man is unacceptable," it said. Charles Dokubo, an associate professor at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, said that he did not believe that Mend would abandon the peace process with the government. "They realise that the solution to the Niger delta problem can only be through dialogue," he told Al Jazeera from Lagos. "If they say they are going to tear the amnesty agreement into shreds, that is just a bargaining position." Oil wealth Mend, the main umbrella group in the region, says it is fighting for a greater share of the region's oil wealth for the local communities in the Niger delta. But following the amnesty it named a team to hold negotiations with the government, while Yar'Adua's administration pledged to spend billions of dollars developing the region after thousands of armed men accepted the presidential amnesty. Earlier this week, the government announced the creation of five committees that will address oil, environmental and disarmament issues in the delta. At the peak of the unrest Nigeria, the world's eighth largest exporter of crude, saw its output slashed by a third. But since the amnesty deal, Nigeria's oil output has risen to around 1.98 million barrels per day, according to latest report from the International Energy Agency.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies