Nigeria caps year with militant capture

While violence is likely to persist next year in the oil-rich Niger Delta, Africa's largest energy producer capped 2008 with the capture of a leading member of the country's most notorious militant group.

Earlier this week, the Nigerian military caught up with Sobomabo Jackrich, one of the leaders of the well-armed and often violent Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND.

Jackrich, who also goes by the alias Ebiri Papa, was caught without violence or injury, said military officials.

"Not a single shot was fired, and no casualty was recorded during and after the arrest," said military spokesman Lt. Col. Sagir Musa following the militant's capture.

The capture of Jackrich came on the heels of several new initiatives aimed at curtailing violence in the delta.

In November, the Nigerian government created a "security panel" aimed at ridding the oil-rich Niger Delta of gunmen and militants in the next three months.

The panel, made up of military officials, civilian authorities, government officials and intelligence officers, will embark on the ambitious effort of reducing violence in a region where attacks by armed gunmen on both onshore and offshore oil facilities have caused Nigeria's oil production to fall by more than 20 percent over the last few years.

Militants and gangs in the delta are blamed for tapping into oil pipelines, a practice commonly known as "bunkering," and for the kidnapping of oil workers and other delta residents for ransom.

"We are all aware of the challenges we face ... ," said Air Chief Marshal Paul Dike at the launch of the 12-person security panel last month. "Recent developments in our waterways, like illegal bunkering, kidnappings, hostage takings, have become serious cause for concern to the government.

"These activities pose serious threats to national security," Dike added. "These acts of illegality, which include economic sabotage and armed smuggling, if not completely addressed, could undermine our national security interest."

While the panel has put forward an audacious agenda for remedying the delta's woes, the effort is not entirely unprecedented. Both the current administration of Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua and the administration of his predecessor, Olusegun Obasanjo, have tried, unsuccessfully, to make headway against the militant groups that have pledged to ramp up attacks in the delta.

More recently, Nigeria named in December a new minister to tackle the problems of militancy and violence in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

As the head of the newly created Niger Delta Affairs Ministry, Ufot Ekaette was made responsible for promoting development in the impoverished delta and combating the violence that has caused Nigeria's oil production to drop by at least 20 percent in recent years.

The challenges facing Ekaette and the Yar'Adua administration to tackle the delta's woes are great, considering Nigeria's oil industry has been plagued by corruption and violence for most of its 50 years, though a spike in violence in recent years has caused Nigerian oil output to decline by about 1 million barrels per day.

High unemployment in the delta, environmental degradation caused by spills during oil and gas extraction, and a lack of basic resources such as fresh water and electricity have angered some of the region's youth and incited them to take up arms, forming militant groups such as MEND.

Though some lauded the choice of Ekaette, others raised concerns as to whether the president's new appointee and his ministry can ameliorate the delta's woes.

"Doubts persist as to how far this would help in the implementation of the oil and gas industry reform process or stem the spiraling violence in the delta, where over 1 million barrels of crude oil remain shut in, owing to pipeline vandalism, kidnappings, arson and seizure of oil platforms, etc.," read a recent editorial in the pages of leading Nigerian newspaper Vanguard.