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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
NIGERIA: Rival militias gear up for fresh fighting in delta
LAGOS, 23 Apr 2004 (IRIN) - A fragile five-month ceasefire between rival tribes in Nigeria's troubled Niger Delta region is in danger of falling apart as armed clashes between the two sides escalate.
A military spokesman said 10 people were killed in the latest incident on Tuesday night when armed men in speed boats opened fire with automatic rifles on a large vessel laden with dozens of local traders and their families near the oil town of Warri.
He told IRIN the authorities suspected that Itsekeri tribal militias were responsible for the attack on the ferry, whose passengers were mainly from the Ijaw and Urhobo tribes.
Armed militants on both sides admit they are itching for a fresh scrap.
"For sometime now Ijaws have been at the receiving end of Itsekiri attacks," Ijaw militant leader, Dan Ekpebide, told IRIN.
"We have reached our limit and can't take it anymore," he added, stressing that Ijaws were now ready to retaliate.
Matt Tsekure, his Itsekiri counterpart, denied that his people were responsible for the Warri boat attack.
However, he accused the Ijaw militias of "massing around Warri" as part of a plan to attack Itsekiri settlements "in the next 48 hours".
Tsekure said grimly the Itsekiris were primed to defend their grounds.
The Itsekiri leader said that on Thursday his people began returning to settlements deep in the creeks and swamps on the Niger Delta from which they were displaced in last year's fighting with Ijaws.
He said he and his men were "ready to force our way if necessary".
Last October James Ibori the Governor of Delta State brought the warring Ijaw and Itsekiri communities together to agree a fragile peace.
However that could be shattered following this week's attack, the latest of several recent incidents.
At the heart of the conflict is a struggle for the few benefits of large-scale oil production in the delta that trickle down to the region's poverty-stricken inhabitants.
The delta accounts for most of Nigeria's two million barrel per day oil production, but at one point last year, oil companies were forced to shut down 40 percent of the country's output as the Ijaws and Itsekiris traded gunfire.
Tsekure alleged that ChevronTexaco had recently begun discussions with the Ijaws about reopening some of its closed oil facilities in return for according Ijaw villages the benefits and pay-offs due to the "host communities" that previously accrued to the displaced Itsekiris.
"By the time we return to our settlements we can turn the table because we won't let Chevron deny us our natural rights," Tsekure said.
ChevronTexaco officials declined comment on his remarks.
Itsekiris have been locked in intermittent fighting with their Ijaw and Urhobo neighbours for the past seven years over claims to oil-bearing land and the related benefits that can be squeezed out of oil multinationals operating in the region.
Fighting between the two groups killed more than 200 people last year and forced the government to send in troop reinforcements to restore order.
Army officials acknowledge both sides have been re-arming during the past five months of uneasy truce.
They also admit that the hit-and-run tactics employed by the militias, who often use speedboats to dash back into the mangrove swamps, makes it difficult to quell violence in the region.
"We have a situation where the militants are adopting hit-and-run
tactics, frequently ambushing military boat patrols and disarming them," one senior officer told IRIN.
"Surely, containing the violence will not be an easy task," he added.
[ENDS]
This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2004
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