Nigerian rebels end truce, threaten oil attacks

Nigeria’s main militant group lifted a three-month ceasefire on Saturday and threatened attacks against Africa’s biggest energy sector.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) said it did not believe the government would meet its demands for greater control of the region’s oil resources and land.

“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,” said the group.

“All companies related to the oil industry in the Niger Delta should prepare for an all-out onslaught against their installations and personnel,” it said.

Mend was the main umbrella militant group responsible for some of the Niger Delta’s biggest attacks in recent years.

It was severely weakened after its senior field commanders and thousands of others accepted clemency and disarmed last year, but oil infrastructure in the Niger Delta is extremely exposed and it takes little to launch an attack. - Reuters