The risk of renewed violence in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta is increasing because militants are frustrated by a lack of concrete results from peace talks, a key negotiator said on Wednesday. Kingsley Kuku, a senior member of a government peace committee, said the government still had an opportunity to avert violence.
A Nigerian tribunal will rule on Tuesday whether the election of President Umaru Yar'Adua was valid, a decision that could entrench a disputed government or tip Africa's most populous nation into turmoil. Yar'Adua won a landslide victory in last April's elections but observers accused the party of widespread vote-rigging.
A rebel group from Nigeria's oil producing Niger Delta demanded on Wednesday that lawyers, relatives and the Red Cross be allowed to see their detained leader, Henry Okah, to confirm he is alive. The government denied a report by the rebel Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta that Okah had been shot dead.
In the minds of its creators, the Tinapa resort in south-eastern Nigeria will rival Dubai or London as a shopping and trading paradise for rich and enterprising Nigerians. In reality, about -million has been spent since 2005, but 80 000 square metres of pristine retail space lie empty.