Yesterday MEND issued a warning that they are taking up arms again because the Nigerian government has not delivered on the promises they made in the cease-fire agreement last October. Today Royal Dutch Shell has shut down three oil flow stations after a pipeline began leaking into an area river, probably due to sabotage, though no group has taken responsibility. Apparently, when MEND agreed to a cease-fire, they thought the government would restore control of the resources back to the people, and share a greater amount of the oil profits with the local people, because it is on the grounds that these demands are not being met that they are resuming their war against the imperialist invaders. Jomo Gbomo issued a statement saying that MEND was not directly responsible for this most recent sabotage incident, but that it was probably a response from a freelance group to MEND's new call to arms. It is interesting to note that there are "free-lance" militant groups, suggesting that MEND doesn't have as much control over their message or implementation as any wisp of legitimacy would warrant. Also, the sabotage to the oil pipeline causing it to leak into a creek, resulting in environmental damage. Why they would choose to attack their oppressors in ways that result in such damage to their own society is beyond me.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201002020649.html
But do we want a group like MEND to take power? Nigeria has flipped psychotically back and forth between military and "democratic" rule. Perhaps the removal of all militant groups would be better in the long run. Yes, the oil companies are very damaging to Nigeria, but the oil companies are rich leviathans that can regenerate as fast as the militants takes them down. The violence strategy has a low chance of actually working, if the best they can do is cause an oil leak. Ideally, the country's rouges would devote their efforts to the stabilization of their government, in hopes of later destroying the oil companies through their true weakness - litigation.
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