Analysis: Nigeria wants militant back

The Nigerian government has called for Angola to return a militant leader captured last month and detained on weapons-trafficking charges so he can face trial, Nigerian news sources reported Wednesday.

The militant, Henry Okah, is believed to be a key member of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, a leading militant movement responsible for numerous attacks on foreign oil installations over the last two years.

Okah was picked up in Angola Sept. 3 on weapons-trafficking charges, which MEND said were trumped up by Nigeria and Angola. Both nations’ leaders have denied the accusations.

While most MEND members and its leadership received guarded praise from Nigeria’s new leadership for initiating a cease-fire, Okah reportedly continued to wage violent attacks and denounced the end of hostilities while continuing a weeks-long battle with rival groups in the streets of the oil-rich Niger Delta's largest city, Port Harcourt.

Last month, before Okah’s arrest, MEND threatened to end its cease-fire and said it would resume attacking petroleum installations in the delta. But since then there have been no reported attacks of violence attributed to MEND, though the militant group said its decision to end the cease-fire was prompted by Okah’s arrest.

“Understandably, there is anxiety in the country over what the next line of action by the dreaded members of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta would be” following Okah’s arrest, wrote Emma Amaize in Nigeria’s Vanguard newspaper Wednesday.

MEND and other militant groups have been blamed for hundreds of kidnappings since violence in the delta began in 2005.

Increased violence against oil operations in the delta has caused significant drops in the country’s oil output, according to the Nigerian government and independent accounts. Before stepped-up hostilities by militant and other armed groups in the Niger Delta beginning in late 2005, Nigeria claimed to be producing about 2.5 million barrels per day. Since then, production has reportedly decreased by at least 20 percent, perhaps even by one-third, warn some analysts.

Since the 1970s, Nigeria, Africa's No. 1 oil producer, has pumped more than $300 billion worth of crude from the southern delta states, according to estimates. High unemployment in the delta, environmental degradation due to oil and gas extraction, and a lack of basic resources such as fresh water and electricity have angered the region's youth, who have taken up arms, many times supplied by political leaders, and formed militant groups and local gangs.

The militants have called for a more equitable distribution of the country’s oil wealth.

Hoping to quell the violence, Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua reached out the gunmen following his April election asking for them to give his administration time to tackle the problems of the delta. Those proposed reforms include changes to the Nigerian economy, particularly its petroleum sector, which generates up to 95 percent of the country’s revenue.

“We have a very clear vision. It is not going to be easy to achieve, but we will try very hard,” said Yar’Adua in September at the U.N. General Assembly.

Although Yar’Adua’s conviction to take on corruption appears genuine, his ability to succeed remains in question.

“The situation in Port Harcourt (and the Niger Delta) will remain unstable in the short term until Nigerian authorities can regain some level of control,” said a recent report by Stratfor consulting group.

Others, however, have praised the Nigerian leader for his efforts.

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, representing one of Nigeria’s most dominant tribes, said Yar’Adua’s “crusade for transparency, accountability and good governance” recognizes the need to address economic injustices in the delta as a means of curtailing the violence there.

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(e-mail: energy@upi.com)