Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta

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The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (abbreviated MEND from Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta ) is a rebel group that has been fighting for control of the oil region since the beginning of 2006 against the Nigerian government and international oil companies that produce oil in the Niger Delta .

The activities of the MEND stand against the background of the massive environmental damage caused by oil production in the Niger Delta and the associated impairment of the livelihoods of the population. The region itself also has little or no share in the profits from oil exports. The emergence of the MEND was preceded by a bloody conflict in the Niger Delta since the 1990s , for which multinational oil companies are also held responsible.

MEND is led by the self-proclaimed Major General Goodwill Tamuno. It is recruited from the Ijaw rebel group Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force (NDPVF) and, like the NDPVF, calls for the release of the NDPVF leader Dokubo-Asari .

The MEND forms an alliance controlled by the Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC) with the Martyrs Brigade , which was founded by Cynthia White after she left the NDPVF as a former spokeswoman for Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari.

chronology

A chronology of the activities up to the end of April 2005 is available from United Ijaw.

  • The MEND first appeared in mid-January 2006 when it attacked a Royal Dutch Shell production platform , killing 13 soldiers. It also attacked a Shell pipeline, causing Nigeria's oil production to drop by 10%.
  • In mid-February, Shell's largest oil export terminal in Forcados near Warri was set on fire, interrupting the export of 400,000 barrels of oil every day.
  • On February 18, 2006, after an ultimatum she had given Shell to stop working in the Niger Delta had expired, she took nine foreign oil workers hostage . Six of the nine hostages were released in early March 2006 and the remaining three were released in late March.
  • On August 20, 2006, ten alleged MEND members were killed by the Joint Task Force (JTF) of the Nigerian military . In an email to REUTERS , MEND announced a punitive action: "Our response to Sunday's killings will come at our time, but for certain it will not go unpunished." The ten people killed are said to have been members of a delegation that, after a successful negotiation, freed a Shell employee who had been kidnapped on August 8 from being held hostage. The hostage is believed to have died.
  • On December 23, 2006, a car bomb previously announced by MEND exploded outside a government building in Port Harcourt . Previously, there had been an explosives attack on a water pipe leading to a state oil refinery and car bomb attacks on international oil company buildings in Port Harcourt.
  • On June 22, 2008, the movement announced a unilateral ceasefire, which is said to have entered into force on June 24. This expired on September 15, 2009.
  • On January 29, 2010 the movement canceled the ceasefire with the government and threatened new attacks.
  • On October 14, 2010, a conspiracy and terrorism trial began against former MEND leader Henry Okah in Johannesburg .

reviews

The Nigerian government regards the MEND as a front organization for organized crime . On August 15, 2006, the Nigerian government declared hostage-taking as terrorism that would be combated militarily.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ BBC News (April 20, 2006) - Interview with Tamuno: Nigeria's shadowy oil rebels
  2. ↑ United Ijaw The Drums of War Are Sounding ( Memento from February 6, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) on the release of Asari and
    the war alliance with The Martyrs Brigade , a new group from the NDPVF
  3. ↑ United Ijaw: NDPVF ( February 6, 2007 memento in the Internet Archive ) The Martyrs Brigade
  4. ↑ United Ijaw MEND ( Memento from February 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Vanguard January 16, 2006: Gunmen kill 13, set oil flow station on fire ( Memento of the original from January 18, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.vanguardngr.com
  6. ↑ Ölverladeterminal Forcados 5 ° 21 '  N , 5 ° 21'  O Ölverladeterminal Bonny 4 ° 25 '  N , 7 ° 9'  O
  7. ↑ aljazeera.net August 24, 2006: Nigerian oil activists vow revenge ( Memento of the original from March 11, 2007 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / english.aljazeera.net
  8. ^ A b Vanguard-Online (August 27, 2006): They killed 10 negotiators, hostage, mistaking them for militants
  9. ↑ NZZ Online : Attack on government buildings in Nigeria , December 23, 2006
  10. ↑ Bieler Tagblatt : Nigerian rebels end fire break  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , January 30, 2010@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.bielertagblatt.ch  
  11. ↑ Martina Schwikowski: Nigeria's oil rebel chief in court. In: the daily newspaper . October 15, 2010, accessed October 22, 2010 .