An uneasy calm descended on the Niger Delta on Wednesday after almost two weeks of violent unrest crippled the region’s oil industry, local leaders, residents and security forces said.
”The situation is under control. There was no shooting overnight. Government is trying to restore normalcy in the area,” said Colonel Chukwuemeka Onwuamaegbu, the Nigerian army’s representative.
Presidential oil Adviser Rilwan Lukman also said on Wednesday that Africa’s largest oil exporter is losing some 800 000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil to the unrest in which at least 13 people, including eight serving militarymen have been killed.
”It’s (output) short by a little over 800 000 barrels. This is the figure I was given yesterday,” Lukman told reporters, giving the first official figure of loss to the violence.
Three oil majors — US ChevronTexaco, Anglo-Dutch group Shell and France’s TotalFinaElf — had put the loss to 767 500 barrels per day.
The leaders of an ethnic Ijaw uprising confirmed that fighting had halted after tentative peace talks with the Delta State government, but warned that violence could erupt swiftly if their demands are not met.
”If nobody’s attacking us then we’re not attacking anyone,” said Oboko Bello, leader of the hardline Federation of Ijaw Delta Communities, which has links to fighters in the swamps around the oil city of Warri.
”Yesterday the state governor contacted us for a chat. He begged us all to calm down … he promised that he would prevail upon the security services to halt their attacks,” he said.
Ijaw militants claim that a joint army-navy taskforce has been making nightly raids on villages in the Delta, punishing the community for a clash two weeks ago in which three servicemen died.
The ethnic group believes it has been politically marginalised and is demanding that local electoral boundaries be redrawn before next month’s national legislative and presidential elections.
”Before April 19 the asked-for ward delineation must be attended to,” Bello said. ”If the problem is not resolved, expect the unexpected.”
Ijaw leaders have repeatedly threatened to destroy oil facilities in the western Delta, most of which have been evacuated and shut down by their multinational owners during the last t wo weeks of violence.
At least four oil industry workers are among the 13 dead confirmed by the army, and refugees fleeing the area claim that scores more have died in navy raids and in attacks by Ijaw militants on a neighbouring community.
Six soldiers and two navy sailors have also been killed. ”We don’t want to start anything, but we will respond if attacked,” Bello said. ”The army did it and they have the result. The navy did it and they have the result.”
US major ChevronTexaco has shut down the huge Escravos oil export terminal in the western delta, while Anglo-Dutch giant Shell and France’s TotalFinaElf have also evacuated the area and shut down oil wells.
According to figures they provided, a total amount of production lost –estimated at 767 500 barrels per day — accounts for more that a third of Nigeria’s exports and the crisis has sent tremors through world oil markets.
But on Wednesday a representative for ChevronTexaco said: ”We hope to resume operations very soon. A local Ijaw community leader, speaking by telephone from the Ijaw village of Ogbe-Ijoh, on the edge of the flashpoint area, also said that a navy blockade of the rebellious Ijaw villages had been relaxed.
”Presently there’s a most uneasy calm,” he said, asking not to be named.
”There’s some kind of ceasefire. The riverway is clear. We believe that talks are under way between the state government and Ijaw and Itsekiri leaders.”
Navy representative Captain Senefi Hungiapuko said: ”I came back from Warri this morning. We have been able to contain the crisis. The situation is now calm. There is no more fighting.” – Sapa-AFP