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Nigeria's most powerful armed group says it destroyed another pipeline
Friday, the latest in its campaign of sabotage against the oil
industry. There was no immediate official confirmation of the attack.
A statement by the
Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said it
attacked a major pipeline that delivers crude to Italian oil group's
Agip's Brass export terminal.
Fighting has flared up in recent weeks, with the militants and the security forces issuing claims and counter claims.
On Wednesday, militants announced they destroyed a pipeline owned by Royal Dutch Shell in the same area.
The
Nigerian government is expected to announce details of an amnesty
program for militants in the Niger Delta next week. The program is
considered a crucial element of the government's efforts to bring
stability to the heartland of Africa's biggest oil and gas industry.
A
resident of the Niger Delta city of Warri, Edward Oforome, a lawyer,
told VOA the current government military offensive in the region is the
largest anti-militant operation in years and is bound to raise
questions about the government's commitment to a peaceful resolution of
the crisis.
"Amnesty is a good initiative if there is honesty in
it," he said. "The reason for saying so is that we read in papers
[newspapers] that they will grant amnesty but the following day you
hear of them fighting. One will think that if amnesty is intended to be
given, that will be enough to bring about the laying down of arms."
The
violence in the delta is taking its toll on the Nigerian economy.
Petroleum Minister of State Odein Ajumogobia says Nigeria's oil output
has fallen to less than half capacity because of militant attacks in
the main producing region in the past three years.
Thousands of
people, most of them impoverished villagers, have been forced to flee
for their lives since the army launched its offensive in May.
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