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Nigeria: Again, Militants Attack Shell Facility

Chika Amanze-Nwachuku in Lagos and Ahamefula Ogbu With Agency

6 July 2009

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Port Harcourt — Militants in the Niger Delta yesterday launched yet another attack on a Shell oil well head in the Cawthorne Channel around Bonny in Rivers state thereby dashing the hope that the amnesty offer by the Federal Government would bring normalcy to the troubled oil-rich region.

The attack on the Shell oil well coincided with yesterday's statement by the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) in which it disowned a frontline Ijaw leader and ardent supporter of Niger Delta militants, Chief Edwin Clarke, and said the elder statesman no longer had the mandate of MEND to speak on its behalf.

MEND) also claimed responsibility for the attack on the Shell facility and vowed to continue its offensive on oil and gas facilities in the region.

The latest incident was the third attack on Royal Dutch Shell facility since President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua made the amnesty offer about two weeks ago.

In an emailed statement to Reuters, MEND said it had attacked a Shell oil well head in the Cawthorne Channel.

"The facility connects to the Bonny loading terminal in Rivers state," it said, referring to a key oil export terminal in the eastern part of the Niger Delta.

Spokesman of MEND, Gbomo Jomo, carpeted JTF for denying the group's allegation that the task force kidnapped a royal father, Agadagba of Egbema Kingdom, HRM Isaac Thiken, and locked him up in its base in Warri. The group said the denial might mean that the soldiers had extra-judicially killed their captive.

"Showing no signs of abating, Hurricane Piper Alpha which upgraded to Hurricane Moses lashed out at the Shell Well Head 20, located at Cawthorn Channel 1 today, July 05, 2009 at about 0300 Hrs leaving total destruction in it's wake. The facility connects to the Bonny loading terminal in Rivers state," Jomo further said.

Confirming the incident, spokesman for the Joint Military Task Force (JTF), Colonel Rabe Abubakar, said "miscreants" had attacked and damaged a facility in the Cawthorne Channel, causing damage to the environment.

Abubakar described the incident as pure act of sabotage carried out in an isolated location where there were no soldiers guarding the pipelines.

According to him, it was wrong for the militants to carry out attacks at the instigation of outside elements as those they claim to protect their interest suffer more from the effects of their activities.

He wondered why the militants would be angry that the JTF raided their hideouts and turn round to attack oil companies and their facilities instead of confronting his troops. He said the pattern of sabotage of oil facilities by the militants indicated deliberate avoidance of areas and facilities manned by JTF personnel.

"The pipeline they attacked is remote and unmanned. They are pipelines connecting the various well heads in the swamps which is a pure act of sabotage. They can do what they are doing because we are observing a ceasefire for the amnesty by the President.

"However, if they refuse to heed the word of reason, luck will soon run out on them. They should stop destroying facilities at the instigation of outsiders since it will not produce a solution to the problem they are complaining of. If they are angry, they should confront JTF troops and not destroy facilities," Abubakar said

Although there was no official response by Shell, a private security contractor told Reuters that a vessel carrying chemicals was thought to have been attacked 20 miles offshore further west and six crew members kidnapped at about the same time. The JTF would not however confirm this.

Shell had last Tuesday confirmed that the latest raids -- which had largely focused on the western Niger Delta -- had slashed output from its onshore facilities to 140,000 barrels per day (bpd), around half of its production level earlier this year.

The disruption to supplies last week helped push global oil prices to an eight-month high above $72 a barrel.

Meanwhile, MEND while dissociating itself from recent statements and activities of Chief Clarke said it would soon put together a team to speak for the Niger Delta people on the issue of the amnesty granted militants recently by President Yar'Adua.

"MEND wishes to disown the elders claiming to speak on our behalf at this time and that includes Chief E.K.Clark.

"At the appropriate time, we will be putting together a team of notable Nigerians drawn from every tribe in the Niger Delta and some others outside the region to represent the group," MEND said.

President Yar'Adua said 10 days ago he would offer a 60-day amnesty to gunmen to try to end unrest which had prevented Nigeria from pumping much above two thirds of its installed capacity since early 2006, costing it billions of dollars in lost revenue.

Some militant leaders had indicated they would be willing to accept the offer, provided they could negotiate the terms, but MEND - a loose network of various armed factions - had said it doubted the government's sincerity.

The group blew up a Shell well head in Delta state hours after the amnesty proposal, accusing the military of going on a "punitive mission" to hunt down suspected militants despite the offer, a charge the security forces denied.

MEND also attacked two well clusters in Shell's Estuary field last Monday, forcing the Anglo-Dutch giant to shut in some production as a precautionary measure.

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