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The
Associated Foreign Press reports that Nigeria''s main rebel group has claimed
responsibility for a recent attack on an oil pipeline operated by Shell and
Chevron, ending a two-month truce, and accusing the government of using the
president''s ill-health to stall peace talks. The Movement for the Emancipation
of the Niger Delta (MEND) claimed the attack in an e-mail statement. The
pipeline is located in Abonemma, some 50 kilometers west of Port Harcourt, the country''s oil hub. MEND had previously
announced an indefinite ceasefire in response to a government amnesty program
for militants in the restive oil region to lay down their arms. The group also
named a team to negotiate with the government on how to end the unrest. MEND
said it would now review the ceasefire within 30 days, blaming the government
for suspending ongoing peace talks because of the failing health of President Umaru Yar''Adua, who has bee hospitalized since late November
in Saudi Arabia. MEND also vowed to continue
"its fight for the restoration of the land and rights of the people of the
Niger Delta which has been stolen for 50 years." The Niger Delta has for
more than three years been a haven for armed militants claiming to be fighting
for a greater share of oil wealth for their communities. At the peak of the
unrest Nigeria, the world''s eighth largest exporter of crude, saw its output
slashed by a third. Following 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.
