Brave MEND Activists Attack Another Shell (Colonial) Pipeline
posted by impuku | 27.04.2008 10:06 | Repression | Social Struggles | Workers' Movements
Fri Apr, 25 2008
Nigerian main rebel group, The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), today said it blew up another oil pipeline belonging to Shell in it renewed attack against oil infrastructures in the region.
Nigerian main rebel group, The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), today said it blew up another oil pipeline belonging to Shell in it renewed attack against oil infrastructures in the region.
MEND said the late Thursday night attack occurred at Kula River in Rivers state of Nigeria.
MEND says it is fighting to force the federal government to direct more oil industry revenues to the region, which remains deeply poor despite four decades of oil production in the area.
The militant group said military officials who were supposed to protect the pipelines actually assisted the fighters when they ran into them during the attack.
“After the blast, the fighters ran into a docked joint military patrol boat but were astonished that instead of a confrontation, the soldiers in the patrol boat urged them on and lamented about having to defend what is unjust.
“MEND uses this opportunity to thank its numerous sympathizers inside the military, oil industry and oil producing communities for facilitating the success of the on-going Operation Cyclone (the
crippling of the entire Nigerian oil export industry).
“This attack is dedicated to the Rivers state governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi who boasted to the Financial Times that our past successes were attributed to the absence of patrol boats undergoing servicing. We waited for the patrol boats to return back in service before carrying
out this attack to proof a point.
“Our candid advice to the oil majors is that they should not waste their time repairing any lines as we will continue to sabotage them. We have time on our side and there is so much to be destroyed. The only time we will stop is when we receive a direct order from our Shepherd.” The
group said in an email sent by Jomo Gbomo to The Times of Nigeria.
Shell confirmed three attacks over the past week, and announced it may not be able to meet its obligations to ship some 169,000 barrels per day from Nigeria over the next few weeks. The company, one of the main operators in the country, has yet to report any production outages from
the other attacks.
Those attacks have helped send crude prices to historic highs on international markets.
The militants have stepped up activities as one of the group's reputed leaders, Henry Okah, faces trial on terrorism and treason charges. The group emerged two years ago and quickly established itself as the region's most effective militant organization.
Since Okah's arrest, the group has not launched any of the coordinated, military-style armed raids on staffed facilities that originally made it notable.
MEND says it is fighting to force the federal government to direct more oil industry revenues to the region, which remains deeply poor despite four decades of oil production in the area.
The militant group said military officials who were supposed to protect the pipelines actually assisted the fighters when they ran into them during the attack.
“After the blast, the fighters ran into a docked joint military patrol boat but were astonished that instead of a confrontation, the soldiers in the patrol boat urged them on and lamented about having to defend what is unjust.
“MEND uses this opportunity to thank its numerous sympathizers inside the military, oil industry and oil producing communities for facilitating the success of the on-going Operation Cyclone (the
crippling of the entire Nigerian oil export industry).
“This attack is dedicated to the Rivers state governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi who boasted to the Financial Times that our past successes were attributed to the absence of patrol boats undergoing servicing. We waited for the patrol boats to return back in service before carrying
out this attack to proof a point.
“Our candid advice to the oil majors is that they should not waste their time repairing any lines as we will continue to sabotage them. We have time on our side and there is so much to be destroyed. The only time we will stop is when we receive a direct order from our Shepherd.” The
group said in an email sent by Jomo Gbomo to The Times of Nigeria.
Shell confirmed three attacks over the past week, and announced it may not be able to meet its obligations to ship some 169,000 barrels per day from Nigeria over the next few weeks. The company, one of the main operators in the country, has yet to report any production outages from
the other attacks.
Those attacks have helped send crude prices to historic highs on international markets.
The militants have stepped up activities as one of the group's reputed leaders, Henry Okah, faces trial on terrorism and treason charges. The group emerged two years ago and quickly established itself as the region's most effective militant organization.
Since Okah's arrest, the group has not launched any of the coordinated, military-style armed raids on staffed facilities that originally made it notable.
posted by impuku