|
|
Nigeria: As Yar'Adua Visits Britain This Week UK Offers to Train Army to Battle Militants
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
This Day (Lagos)
13 July 2008
Posted to the web 13 July 2008
Collins Edomaruse With Agency Report
Lagos
As President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua concludes travel plans to jet out to London this week for talks with the British Prime Minister, Mr. Gordon Brown, on bilateral matters, the United Kingdom Government has offered "to help the Nigerian government fight rebels in the oil-producing Niger Delta", Downing Street has said.
According to a London-based daily, The Independent in its yesterday edition, the Niger Delta issue will feature prominently for discussion in the meeting between leaders of both countries at the official residence of the British Premier, 10 Downing Street.
The offer of military training assistance from Britain came on the heels of the spirited efforts of the Joint Military Task Force in the Niger Delta to reduce criminal activities in the region by beefing up security around offshore oil facilities to forestall illegal lifting of crude oil.
The newspaper also quoted the Prime Minister's unnamed official spokesman as saying that the focus will be on providing training for the Nigerian military. He said: "Oil supply from Nigeria has been undermined by insecurity in the Niger Delta. This is bad for the local population, bad for workers, bad for the Nigerian government and the stability of the whole region. The President of Nigeria is visiting London next week and the Prime Minister will have an opportunity to discuss these issues with him then."
Brown's statement on Wednesday that Britain stood "ready to give help to the Nigerians to deal with the lawlessness that exists in this area and to achieve levels of production that Nigeria is capable of", led to a rebel group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) to say it will call off its ceasefire yesterday.
Brown had, during the just-concluded G-8 Summit in Japan, hinted at the willingness of his administration to assist Nigeria in containing the activities of militants operating in the region.
The prospect of British intervention in the conflict, according to The Independent's report, has prompted the end of a ceasefire in the region and drawn accusations of neo-colonialism from militant groups. They also accused the Federal Government of illegal actions
The Federal Government may have been fired into a collaboration with the UK authorities following a recent blow to the prospect of a peaceful resolution to the crisis in the region when Professor Ibrahim, a senior UN official chosen by the government to preside over the steering committee of the Niger Delta Summit tactically declined after militant groups and other interest groups in the region questioned his neutrality.
Commander of the task force in Bayelsa State, Lt. Col. Chris Musa, told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Yenagoa that the military is fully mobilised to stem the tide of criminal activities in the area following Friday's arrest of a vessel laden with 150,000 tonnes of suspected stolen crude oil.
According to him, the arrested vessel, MT Lina Panama, had on board 15 crew members comprising 14 Filipinos and a Greek.
The arrested crew members were detained at the JTF headquarters in Warri, Delta State, he said.
|
The JTF commander said the task force was not only fighting crude oil theft, but also making efforts to wipe out militancy in the region.
this culprit should be used for prisoner swap between nigeria and philipine state,and if they refuse the friendship option execute the convict,otherwise Nigerians wont forgive the govt of Yaradua
Bravo to the security forces on the capture of the bunkerers,the subsequent step is to get to the masterminds of the illegal activity. If the sponsors of these philipinos are Nigerians or foreign entities,hence can Nigeria successfully fight the theft in crude petroleum from the shores of Nigeria once and for all.
I guess Britain knows best how to flex muscles in Africa, giving Nigeria military assistance will not in any way change any life in Niger Delta. Britain has been indifference in affairs of Nigeria as whole, less the Niger Delta. One day for sure they will pay...God Bless America!!
Britain has never ben indifferent in Nigeria affairs.They are the ONES BEHIND ALL THE ATROCITIES COMMITED IN NIGERIA. Britain is behing the governmnet politicies that favour them than any thing else.From the civil war the sponsored with MOST SOPHISTICATED ARMS SUPPLY TO NIGERIA AND PERSONNEL SUPPLY TO NIGERIA TILL DATE.THEY ARE AT IT AGAIN. WATCH AND SEE HOW THEY WILL SEND ARMS TO NIGERIA AND CRUSH THE NIGER DELTA ISSUE SOON.Britain is not indifferent at all.They are AFTER THE BRITISH INTERREST OK.The defeat of Biafra was British HAND WORK COMPLETELY,BRITAIN KNOWS HOW TO DESTROY OPPOSERS OF BRITISH INTERREST,"THE OIL".
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
