MEND Nigeria-Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta-MEND-Official News Site -tracking News, Articles, Interviews and Opinions, related to MEND- from 1999 to Present

02/24/2006

Warri — Armed militants holding nine foreign oil workers hostage in Nigeria's troubled Niger Delta, on Friday released photos of the captives for the first time but denied entering into talks with the government over their release.

02/24/2006

Lagos/Warri/Port Harcourt — A new twist crept yesterday into the crisis in the Niger Delta after militants holding the nine expatriate hostages said that Shell Petroleum Develop-ment Company (SPDC) would need to obey an order by a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt to pay $1.5 billion (N193.5 billion) to the Ijaw Aborigines of Bayelsa State.

02/23/2006

The Niger Delta militants, holding nine foreign hostages, said yesterday that they have no plans to release their captives soon and described the efforts of the Federal government to secure their release as a waste of time.

02/23/2006

Asaba — A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain in Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State, Mr. P. Idion has joined other Nigerians in appealing to the members of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) to release the nine expatriate oil workers taken hostage last Saturday.

02/23/2006

Abuja — GOVERNOR James Ibori of Delta State yesterday said the nine hostages kidnapped by the Ijaw militants last Saturday would be released before the end of this week. Addressing newsmen in Warri, the state capital, Chief Ibori said the hostages would have been released but for the fear of the militants who claimed that they might be attacked again by operatives of the Joint Task Force (JTF).

02/23/2006

opinion Lagos — Stretch your imagination a bit and the title of this piece could read "Who Will Save Nigeria?" There are some analysts in this country whose understanding of our situation does not go beyond the north-south dichotomy. They tell you things like, "oh, the north is not productive; yet money is taken from the south for its development." Or, "the north has ruled for too long. It's our turn."

02/22/2006

UP till last weekend, many could still not fathom the reality that another batch of foreign oil workers have been kidnapped by militant youths, operating under the aegis of the Movement for Emancipation of the Niger -Delta (MEND) in Delta State barely three weeks after the four expatriate oil workers who were taken hostage in Bayelsa state, last month, were released

02/22/2006

Lagos/Abuja/Benin — FINANCE Minister, Dr (Mrs) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala yesterday warned that revenue projection in this year's N1.89 trillion federal budget will not be realised if the present crisis in the Niger Delta persists.

02/22/2006

Warri/Abuja — Delta State Governor James Ibori yesterday said negotiations with Ijaw militants holding hostage nine foreign oil workers had reached an advanced stage, raising hope that the hostages would soon be released.

02/21/2006

opinion Lagos — To stress the imperative of political solution in unravelling the Niger Delta debacle is not to glorify "terrorism" or "acts of sabotage" as some observers of the situation in the region are wont to say.