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The Nigerian militant group Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) on Sunday declared an “oil war” against the Nigerian government. MEND is already responsible for shuttering a quarter of the oil output in Nigeria — Africa’s leading oil-producing state and the United States’ fifth-largest supplier of crude. MEND attacks contributed to rising oil prices, and its threat of renewed attacks alone will be enough to trigger oil prices to climb again.
MEND’s declaration comes a day after Nigerian armed forces launched a combined-arms assault involving warplanes, helicopters and gunboats against MEND positions in the Niger Delta. The assault might have been meant to recover a barge full of oil-industry workers kidnapped Sept. 9 and held by MEND as a bargaining chip to negotiate the release of Henry Okah, a MEND leader facing trial for treason based on allegations of arms smuggling.
This is just the latest in a string of violent incidents centered on Nigerian politics and the distribution of oil wealth. MEND was the creation of ethnic Ijaw politicians. The Ijaw had never held power in Abuja, even though their region produced 95 percent of Nigeria’s oil and natural gas, the country’s only meaningful natural resources. The politicians used MEND and its attacks on the oil industry to hold Nigeria’s economy hostage until the Ijaw were able to secure a stake in Abuja that let them take the lead in managing the resources in their region.
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