Conflicting Casualty Reports in Firefight

MEND claims Seven Government Soldiers Killed in Firefight

A Nigerian militant group holding three foreign oil workers hostage said its fighters clashed Wednesday with army troops in this West African nation's oil-rich delta region.

The militants said in an e-mailed statement that one of their vessels was attacked on the Escravos River by four Nigerian navy patrol boats, sparking a 45-minute gunbattle they claimed left seven government soldiers dead.

The reported skirmish could not be independently confirmed and military officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

"The Nigerian government and military should note that we have sufficient firepower in that vicinity to repel any attack," the militants said.

Ethnic Ijaw militants took nine foreign oil workers hostage Feb. 18 and released six of them last week. The remaining three include two Americans and a Briton.

The militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta claims to be fighting to win a greater share of oil wealth on behalf of the Niger Delta's impoverished inhabitants, who have remained poor despite the fact that most of Nigeria's oil is being pumped from the swampy region. The government characterizes the militants as criminals and oil thieves.

Nigerian Government Claim Most of the Dead in Firefight are Militant “Youths”

At least 12 people died Wednesday in eastern Nigeria in a clash between armed youth and the army, military sources revealed.

Col. Damiane Poppel said most of the deaths are civilians who attacked two Army companies patrolling the area.

A month ago, that same zone was the stage of armed clashes between groups of young people and government security forces that left eight people dead in Donga, near the Benue River.

In the same region, rebels attacked a detachment of the Nigerian army

The Nigerian government on Tuesday alleged a notorious ethnic militia group based in the country's southwest had killed and maimed more than 10,000

The Nigerian government on Tuesday alleged a notorious ethnic militia group based in the country's southwest had killed and maimed more than 10,000 people in the last seven years, the official News Agency of Nigeria reported.

The Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) "is a callous, murderous tribal and secessionist organization that has no regards for human life," said a government affidavit filed before a court in Abuja on the trial of six leaders of the organization.

The OPC, which was set up by Frederick Faseun in the 1990s, is a part ethnic militia and part vigilante group that promoted self determination for the Yoruba ethnic group. It was banned five years ago after its members were accused of fomenting violence.

The affidavit was filed by Justice Minister Bayo Ojo, to oppose bail application for Faseun and four other members of the OPC and for the transfer of their trial to the southwest states of Lagos or Ogun.

The six were charged with treasonable felony, illegal possession of prohibited firearms and belonging to an unlawful society.

The deponent, Ahmed Tabari from the Justice Ministry claimed that if their trial was held in Lagos or Ogun, trial judge, prosecutors and witnesses would be "killed violently" by the OPC stalwart.

He deposed that the organization held sway in terms of their large number of members in the two states.

Meanwhile, trial judge, Justice Anwuli Chikere, had directed that Faseun should be allowed to get medical attention from his personal doctor.

The court directive was upon an application that Faseun's health was failing and he would need his personal doctor to attend to him.

Anwuli also directed counsel to the accused persons to file their reply to the allegation contained in the affidavit and adjourned to case to March 29.

Source: Xinhua

MEND Manages Removal of Regional Military Chief

The head of the Nigerian military in the oil-producing Niger Delta has been removed from his post on suspicion of involvement in the theft of crude oil, government sources said on Wednesday.

The removal of Brigadier General Elias Zamani, head of the military joint task force (JTF) in the delta, is a vindication for militants fighting the government in the southern wetlands region. It could help free three foreign oil worker hostages being held by them, diplomats said.

Militants have long accused Zamani, among other top military officers, of being behind the trade in stolen oil, known locally as bunkering, worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

"Zamani was removed because of evidence that he is involved in bunkering. Some of his soldiers are also indicted because he didn't do it alone," said a government source involved in the investigation, who asked not to be named.

It was unclear whether Zamani would face formal charges for oil theft, the source said.

An army spokesman said Zamani was redeployed as a routine measure and that he was not under arrest.

A second government source said Zamani's removal came at the behest of the economic and financial crimes commission, an anti-graft unit which reports to President Olusegun Obasanjo.

A commission spokesman declined to comment.

Oil industry officials estimate that OPEC member Nigeria loses about 100,000 barrels a day, or 5 percent of its output, to a highly sophisticated international network of oil thieves.

The crude oil is siphoned from pipelines and wellheads in the mangrove-lined creeks of the delta, loaded on to ocean-going tankers and exported to refineries.

Zamani has been in charge of thousands of troops deployed to the delta a spate of ethnic violence in 2003.

Two navy rear-admirals were court martially last year for their role in the disappearance of an oil tanker used in theft.

Diplomats believe the trade is the root cause of much of the insecurity in the delta, which pumps all of Nigeria's 2.4 million barrels a day.

Ethnic Ijaw militants have kidnapped two groups of foreign oil workers, killed more than a dozen soldiers and sabotaged major oil installations over the past three months, curbing oil exports by a fifth.

They are still holding two Americans and one Briton, demanding more local control over the region's oil wealth.

Zamani had accused the militants of being oil thieves, and ordered helicopter gunship raids on barges he said they used to ship the oil. The militants accused security chiefs, and Zamani in particular, of being the real kingpins.

"Oil is not like diamonds and requires ships to come in unhindered. This is facilitated by the heads of these security organizations who are paid a standard fee for every vessel loaded," they said in an email last month.

Analysts say those behind oil theft are also involved in politics in the delta, and use the proceeds to buy arms for private militias. Corrupt government fuels anger and militancy among the region's impoverished majority, whose fishing villages play host to gas flares and oil production platforms.

The federal government recently asked Britain and the United States for a wide range of military hardware to tackle the militant threat in the delta, but diplomats said they were reluctant to accede to the request until Nigeria faced up to official collusion in oil theft and poor governance.

REUTERS