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

06/25/2009

editorial Abuja — Last week, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) gave what it said was notice warning that within two months, it would escalate its terrorist activities to the North by launching a major attack there.

06/25/2009

Abuja/Port Harcourt/Lagos. — President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua yesterday said with the three-pronged strategy adopted by his administration, among which is the amnesty offer, peace will return to the troubled Niger Delta region by December.

06/25/2009

Abuja — The Ukrainian aircraft seized at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport on Tuesday last week may soon become a subject of diplomatic unease between Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea. THISDAY was informed yesterday that the government of the country, which shares the Gulf of Guinea with Nigeria, is laying claim to the ownership of the "cargo" aboard the aircraft, whereas Nigerian security operatives suspect the arms and ammunition were meant for Niger Delta militants.

06/25/2009

Daily Independent (Lagos) Lagos/Abuja — President Umaru Yar'Adua did a quick one on Wednesday by ordering the release of Mujahideen Dokubo-Asari, whose arrest by the State Security Services (SSS) the previous day simply played into the hands of militants who doubt his sincerely about amnesty.

06/25/2009

column Port Harcourt — A FEW months ago the Federal Government muted the idea of amnesty to militants in the Niger Delta with a view to ending the rumble in the creeks, which has massively affected oil export and exploration, crashing the nation's revenue to its ebb. As it was expected, the amnesty announcement was greeted with mixed reactions. While some Nigerians hailed President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua for the magnanimity others called for the prosecution of the militants for their past sins.

06/25/2009

Yenagoa — The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has called on visiting Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, to visit the Niger Delta to appreciate the suffering of the people. Describing the bilateral agreement signed between Russia and Nigeria in the area of oil exploration as worthless in the face of the pervasive poverty in the region, the group in an online statement, said only the enthronement of true federalism could guarantee peace in the troubled Niger Delta.

06/24/2009

analysis Abuja — Penultimate Monday, MEND, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, served notice that it will embark on a major act of terrorism in the North within the next two months. This, said MEND's spokesman, the mysterious Jomo Gpomo, in an email exchange with Sunday Trust (June 21), was because the region's "elite are taking us for fools and the majority of soldiers (fighting us are) from the North."

06/24/2009

Abuja — The West Africa Students' Union (WASU) has urged FIFA to disregard threat by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) to disrupt the Under-17 World Cup to be hosted in Nigeria, describing such threat as capable of sabotaging the collective delight of football loving Nigerians.

06/24/2009

Daily Independent (Lagos) port Harcourt/lagos — Leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Mujahideen Dokubo-Asari, was arrested at about 8 p.m. on Tuesday by the operatives of the State Security Services (SSS) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on his way from Germany.

06/24/2009

Lagos — Italian oil giant Eni has declared force majeure on exports from its Brass River terminal located in Brass Island of Bayelsa State. This is coming as the Joint Task Force (JTF) said it arrested nine gunmen suspected to be involved in last week's pipeline attack that forced the oil major to halt some oil output in its facility. The oil and gas company had said last Friday that an attack on its Ogoda Manifold-Brass Terminal pipeline halted production of around 33,000 barrels of oil and 2 million cubic metres of gas per day. The company last month declared force majeure on the same export terminal as gun battle between the Joint Task Force (JTF) and the Movement for Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) in the neighbouring Delta State escalated.