PHILIPE BERNES-LASSERRE, Lagos | Tuesday 3.15pm
TROOPS poured into the oil-producing region of southern Nigeria on Monday in a military operation a senior official said is aimed at averting a “total breakdown of law and order”.
Dozens of truckloads of heavily-armed soldiers drove into the Bayelsa State capital Yenagoa over the weekend and moved on Monday into the town of Odi, where 12 policemen have been killed this month, residents of Yenagoa said.
The government said law-abiding people will be safe amid the operation. Local reports said a large number of people have been killed in fighting with the soldiers. Details are sketchy and independent confirmation is not possible with the area sealed off to reporters.
Though it is the cradle of the multi-billion dollar Nigerian oil industry, the Delta region for years suffered neglect and under-development. Protests erupt regularly from people demanding a greater share of the country’s oil wealth.
However, Okupe denies that a state of emergency has been declared and said that the Bayelsa State governor remains in charge of the deployment.
The official said the objective of the operation is the “speedy return of normalcy and peace” and said the government is committed to tackling “the problems created by years of neglect and official abandonment of the Niger Delta region.”
Local community leaders, however, told Nigerian radio the operation is an attack on the Ijaw people who make up one of the main ethnic groups in the region and have long been agitating for more control of their own affairs. — AFP