April 1, 2003
This hulking pumping station on an oil pipeline lies silent, its workers evacuated and valves shut after a spasm of tribal violence left villages in ruins, scores dead and Nigeria's petroleum industry crippled.
A helicopter flight over the swampy Niger Delta and a boat trip through some of its waterways found other oil sites abandoned and the Escravos export terminal quiet. Many villages were empty, and some had been burned. The 12-day rampage by Ijaw extremists has cut the country's normal oil output of 2 million barrels a day by 40 percent at a time world prices already were up because of worries over the war in Iraq. Nigeria is the fifth-biggest supplier of U.S. oil imports.
Although they called a truce last week, Ijaw leaders are threatening to resume violence after the president promised to arrest militants. Ijaws warned they would retaliate for any arrests by burning oil facilities and using force to disrupt legislative and presidential elections in a few weeks. Discontent over the elections was behind the rampage that began March 12. Ijaws, whose 8 million people make them the largest ethnic group in the oil-rich delta, are demanding changes in election districts that they contend are biased in favor of rival Itsekiris. Ijaws also argue that Itsekiris get an unfair share of government money and oil revenues.
Thousands of people fled the area to get away from the fighting between Ijaw militants and the Itsekiris and government troops. Only a few civilians have returned to their villages of mud-and-zinc shacks, with many fearing that fighting will break out again. Others fear an army massacre in retaliation for the deaths of at least 10 soldiers and policemen who were among more than 100 people reported killed. The military gunned down hundreds of villagers in 1999 and 2001 in retaliation for the killings of security force officials.
Tensions remain high.
Oboko Bello, president of the Federated Niger Delta Ijaw Communities, told journalists visiting the remote town of Okerenkoko that his militants would ``embark on mass action'' unless the government met their demands. And Itsekiris warn they may retaliate against Ijaws.
``If the government cannot protect us, some of our people may think about doing so ourselves,'' said Austin Ogboroegbeyi, an Itsekiri leader. Oil companies are accustomed to unrest in the delta. Political activists and criminal gangs frequently kidnap workers and sabotage wells in a bid to extort payoffs. Protests by environmentalists and community groups seeking money for clinics and other amenities also disrupt work.
But the latest violence was far worse than anything previously seen, and the companies have shut down far more onshore and offshore facilities then in previous outbreaks. The multinational companies - Royal/Dutch Shell, ChevronTexaco and TotalFinaElf - say it remains too dangerous for their workers to return.
``The safety of our employees and contract workers is of the greatest importance to us,'' said Harriman Uyofo, spokesman for Shell's Nigerian subsidiary. Some of the companies' fears stem from the automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and explosives that the Ijaw militants are said to have obtained. Ijaw leader Kingsley Okuaro insisted the group is unarmed.
Ijaws, who charge that the military raids their villages on behalf of Itsekiris, take particular aim at ChevronTexaco, which they accuse of allowing the army and navy of using its Escravos oil export terminal as a base for launching attacks. ChevronTexaco spokesman Wole Agunbiade has said repeatedly his company has no part in the ethnic fight and contends it has no influence over Nigeria's security forces.
During a helicopter flight over the terminal, an Associated Press journalist saw only a handful of soldiers and ChevronTexaco security men patrolling the facility. Two navy gunboats were docked next to the terminal. The blackened remains of an Itsekiri village stood across the river, with only a few structures standing. Several miles away, damaged buildings were seen at an oil facility.
A boat trip by AP journalists through the delta passed several Ijaw villages without any signs of people. Four Shell oil facilities seemed shut down, with only one or two employees at each.
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