Then let the Chinese do it!!! ***** AMERICA!!!
West seen wary over Nigeria oil delta defence needs
28 Feb 2006 13:38:08 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Pascal Fletcher
ABUJA, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Nigeria's authorities have approached Western
governments about providing defence equipment to help protect its
oil-producing delta region from attack by militants, diplomats said on
Tuesday.
But Western partners would like Nigeria to do more first to reduce
corruption and improve government in the southern Niger Delta, where
ethnic militants have recently stepped up attacks on oil installations
and kidnappings of oil workers.
Nigeria is the world's eighth-largest oil exporter and the delta, a
vast tangle of mangrove-lined creeks in the south of the country,
produces the bulk of its crude. Recent attacks by Ijaw ethnic
militants, who want more local control over the region's oil, have
curbed Nigerian exports by a fifth.
At a meeting last week in London to discuss the delta's problems, a
presentation by a top official of Nigeria's state oil company NNPC
included a "shopping list" of military hardware, said the Western
diplomats, who asked not to be named.
The meeting to explore anti-poverty strategies for the delta was
chaired by Peter Odili, governor of Rivers State, and was attended by
executives of oil companies and officials of the British and U.S.
governments and the World Bank.
"The governor gave an assurance that the state government and central
government were doing everything possible to guarantee the security
situation," said Odili's spokesman Emma Okah.
Delta militants are currently holding nine foreign oil workers hostage,
including three Americans and one Briton.
While the foreign partners are open to development projects, they are
sceptical about providing military hardware.
"There is a question over the credibility of the existing security
forces in the delta," one diplomat said.
The theft of crude oil is the main cause of the region's insecurity, he
added, and the security forces are implicated in the illicit trade,
worth over $1 billion a year.
"It's the source of the money that goes to buy the arms in the delta,
it employs the militias and there is too much suspicion people in
authority are benefiting," he said.
"If that's the case, you need to do more than just provide shopping
lists (of military hardware)," he added.
Part of the solution also lies in reducing embezzlement by officials
and promoting good government, diplomats say.
The delta states already receive far more than what many other states
get from federal oil income, but much of it is looted by state
governors. Militancy is fuelled by election rigging and widespread
human rights abuses by the military, civil society groups say.
COMPLAINT
In comments to the Financial Times published on Tuesday, Nigerian Vice
President Atiku Abubakar complained the United States had been slow in
cooperating with Nigeria over security.
Officials said he was referring to the slow delivery of high speed
patrol boats -- ideal for protecting the delta waterways -- under a
contract with a U.S. company.
A Nigerian Navy spokesman said 12 of the 35 boats due to be delivered
had been received.
Abubakar was quoted by the Financial Times as saying security talks
with the United States did not seem to be progressing "as fast as the
situation is unfolding".
In recent months, militants in the delta have blown up platforms and
pipelines operated by Shell and other foreign companies, and seized a
total of 13 oil workers. Four were freed last month.
The top U.S. diplomat for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, said recently
Washington would have to carefully consider any Nigerian request for
U.S. security assistance to deal with the situation in the delta.
Frazer, who is assistant secretary of state for African affairs, saw
the delta unrest as a long-term problem.
"These communities are disaffected and the most important and best way
to help increase stability in the delta is to make sure that the
resources coming from the oil wells is widely distributed across
society," she said. (Additional reporting by Tom Ashby in Lagos)
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