Camp Attacked, Militants Repelled (Reuters)
Nigerian troops repelled an attack on a construction site run by Korean firm Daewoo in the Niger Delta early on Tuesday, killing one of the attackers, a military commander said.
The attack took place at Mbiama, on the outskirts of the delta's main city of Port Harcourt, where Daewoo are doing contract work for Italian oil firm Agip .
Daewoo staff including some foreigners live on the site and the military commander said they were the target of the attack.
"The gunmen came in a bus to abduct some foreigners who were in the camp at the time but my men repelled the attack," said Lawrence Ngubane, head of the Joint Task Force responsible for security in the Niger Delta.
"We killed one of the attackers and arrested one. We also seized the bus, some weapons and ammunition," he said.
None of the Daewoo staff was hurt or kidnapped, Ngubane said.
Abductions for ransom of foreign oil workers are extremely frequent in the Niger Delta, as are attacks on oil production facilities. About 200 expatriates have been kidnapped since the start of 2006, of whom at least 16 are still being held.
Oil output from Nigeria, the world's eighth-biggest exporter, is down by over 20 percent because of these attacks and thousands of expatriate workers and their families have left the region since the violence intensified at the start of 2006.
Cults Clash, Houses Destroyed (Wire Reports)
Several people were injured and many houses and vehicles were destroyed in two days of fighting between two rival cult gangs in southern Nigeria's volatile Ogoniland, police said Tuesday.
Riot police were brought in to break up the violence which erupted Sunday between the Deewell and Deebam gangs in Bane in the Khana local government area, Rivers state police spokeswoman Ireju Barasua told AFP.
"Several people were injured while vehicles and houses were razed" in the fighting which continued until Monday, she added.
Local press said at least two people were feared killed.
Bane is the home town of the late environmental campaigner and writer Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was killed along with eight other Ogoni activists by the military in November 1995 over a trumped up charge of killing four fellow Ogoni chiefs.
Oil-rich Ogoniland is a hotbed of civil unrest in the restive Niger Delta, home to Nigeria's multi-billion-dollar oil and gas resources.
Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell, which is Nigeria's leading producer, was forced to quit Ogoniland in 1993 because of community unrest.
Residents of Ogoni communities accuse foreign oil companies, especially Shell, of destroying their ecosystem without paying adequate compensation.
VP Says Niger Delta's Security Top Priority (This Day)
Vice President Goodluck Jonathan has revealed that his main assignment in the first six months of the life of the administration is to stabilise the Niger Delta area.
He also said the lack of coordination that proved quite unhelpful in solving the crisis and other related matters in the Niger Delta in the past is already being taking care of by the Yar'Adua administration.
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The Vice President said these yesterday at the Aso Rock State House when he received a six-man delegation on a courtesy visit from the parent company of Nigerian Agip Oil Company (ENI), led by its Chief Operation Officer, Mr. Stefano Cao.
He also said the deplorable security situation in Lagos State would also be given adequate attention so that Nigerians could sleep peacefully at night while their businesses and investments thrive without fear from the men of the underworld.
The Vice President told the visiting group that the Federal Government has made appreciable progress in the Niger Delta area by securing the understanding of the leaders of those agitating for a better deal in the region.
He said several talks have already been held with all the stakeholders in the area to ensure that such meetings have far reaching effect in resolving the crises.
On the security situation in Lagos State, Jonathan said "we will ensure that security situation in the Niger Delta area is improved soon, even Lagos State security situation will be looked into, so that business and investment can thrive and people can sleep safely at night".
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