Source:
Al JazeeraNigeria fighters call off ceasefire
UPDATED ON:
Saturday, January 30, 2010
16:42 Mecca time, 13:42 GMT
Nigeria's main armed group has called off a three-month-old ceasefire in the Niger delta and threatened to unleash "an all-out assault" on Africa's biggest oil and gas industry.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), responsible for years of attacks on oil facilities, said on Saturday it could no longer trust the government to negotiate demands for greater control of the region's natural resources.
The threat comes as Umaru Yar'Adua, Nigeria's president, has been out of the country receiving medical treatment for more than two months.
His absence has raised fears of a constitutional and political crisis in the country.
"It is sufficiently clear at this point in time the government of Nigeria has no intentions of considering the demands made by this group for the control of the resources and land," Mend said in a statement.
"All companies related to the oil industry in the Niger delta should prepare for an all-out onslaught against their installations and personnel."
The truce was declared in October last year, but it was breached in December when the fighters attacked a major pipeline operated by Shell and Chevron.
Read more:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2010/01/201013022452924104.html
Looks like the Pentagon's new Africa Command is going to be doing more than just PR.
Here is a link to what your tax dollars are doing in Africa:
http://www.africom.mil/