'Nigeria: the context for violence' (2006-2013)

[Jedburgh]

The Jamestown Foundation's Terrorism Monitor, 25 Jul 08:

The Global Repercussions of Nigeria’s Niger Delta Insurgency

The “oilfield” wars in Nigeria’s Delta region have been in the international spotlight from the emergence of the Ken Saro-Wiwa-led Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) in 1990 to the current insurgency led by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). This latter group is known for its tactic of hostage-taking and its frequent clashes with the Nigerian military. The activities of MEND have greatly influenced peak global oil prices with consequences for production capacities and consumption.....

[Jedburgh]

ICG, 18 Sep 08: Nigeria: Ogoni Land after Shell

.....The exit of Shell/SPDC from Ogoni land, an event much anticipated by the people, will draw the curtain on one of the most contentious relationships between an oil company and a local community in the Niger Delta. It also provides an opportunity for the government to show greater goodwill and sensitivity to the ethnic minority groups of the region. If handled carefully, this transition could persuade some of the Delta’s armed groups that non-violence can produce progress on their demands. If handled poorly, it will not only intensify the Delta insurgency but also set the stage for a new crisis between the Ogoni and SPDC’s successor company......

[Jedburgh]

CFR, 14 Sep 09: Understanding the Armed Groups of the Niger Delta

This paper, Understanding the Armed Groups of the Niger Delta, provides an in-depth analysis of the rise of militancy in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Most important, the paper provides insight into the origins and personalities of the various militant groups and their leaders. It explains the ways by which groups move from protest to violent activity, from acting against grievances to heavy involvement in criminal activity. The line between protest and criminality indeed often shifts, or overlaps. The importance of ethnic identities and rivalries are made clear, but equally the shifting of alliances and loyalties that sometimes cross ethnic lines, on the other hand sometimes lead to fissions within ethnic groups. Hints of political collusion with militants run through the narrative.

[Jedburgh]

MICROCON, 27 Oct 09: How Do Ethnic Militias Perpetuate in Nigeria? A Micro-level Perspective on the Oodua People’s Congress

Recent seminal contributions in the literature on civil conflicts have explored the micro-foundations of collective political violence. A great deal of attention is now paid to the non-state collective actors that organize violence and the specific constraints and challenges they face: gathering funds, recruiting combatants, enforcing rank and files’ commitment. The strategies implemented to solve these challenges have been shown to influence crucial outcomes such as the intensity of violence or the sustainability of violent groups over time.

The paper discusses the recently promoted view that organized insurgent violence should either be conducted by activists bonded together by social capital ties or self interested quasi-mercenaries, depending on the type of financial resources available to the group. We contrast this perspective with the study of an ethnic Nigerian militia, the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC).

Section II discusses the existing conceptual frameworks related to violent organizations and states our analytical puzzle. Section III details and interprets our empirical findings on the organizational dynamics of the OPC. Section IV presents and comments the results concerning OPC militants’ profiles and subjective motives for violent engagement. Section V concludes.

[Jedburgh]

The Economist, 12 Nov 09: Nigeria: Hints of a new chapter

....unusually hopeful things are happening in the Delta. As a direct consequence of the corruption and waste now being exposed in Bayelsa and other Delta states, a violent insurgency has wracked the region since 2004. Dozens of heavily armed gangs started attacking the oil industry, sabotaging installations and pipelines and kidnapping foreign oil workers. The militants claimed to be acting on behalf of neglected, disfranchised local communities, whose lands had been polluted by the oil companies and who received almost no money from the rich state governors. The militants were joined by criminals interested merely in a quick return from kidnapping.

Yet over the past three months the militants have been giving up both themselves and their guns in unprecedented numbers. The federal government has promised them an unconditional pardon for past crimes, a small stipend to live on and the promise of retraining in order to “reintegrate” into society. A couple of similar amnesty programmes were tried before, and failed, but this one seems to be working. In Bayelsa alone, by the end of October, more than 6,000 former guerrillas had turned themselves in. In Rivers state, the heart of the insurgency, another 6,000 had given up. Across the whole of the Delta region, the total may exceed 15,000. No one knows for sure how many militants are still in the creeks, but Nigerian officials claim that these numbers mean the end of the insurgency. Their optimism seemed to be justified when the Movement for the Emancipation of the Delta (MEND), the main umbrella group for the insurgents, declared an indefinite ceasefire on October 25th.....

[sgmgrumpy]

Jed,

Good find. Been spider webbing all the groups in Nigeria for sometime. This one statement sums it all up though.

A couple of similar amnesty programmes were tried before, and failed, but this one seems to be working.

That pile of weapons doesn't even scratch the surface of whats in that place, and I would assume or at least hope going after the weapon smuggling coming in from Ghana would be a high priority. I give this two months if that.

Probably the most accurate description:

Armed Gangs Dominate Nigeria's Oil-Rich Region
By Gilbert da Costa
Abuja
19 April 2009

"You discover that even our young kids, even at the level of primary school; you see them engaging in most of these clandestine organizations and activities," said Onyebueke. "And it is causing a lot of disruptions. Most of them go into drugs, most of them take to violent crimes and you discover most of them going mental at very young ages. Some of them become dropouts and touts and that affects their productivity. And that also affects our economy."

Violence in the delta, a wetlands region, is rooted in poverty, corruption and lawlessness. The region has the highest unemployment rate in Nigeria and is the most impoverished. Most inhabitants have seen few benefits from five decades of oil extraction that has damaged their environment.

You look at them like very violent groups; their communities do not look at them like violent groups," he continued. "They look at them like vanguard organizations through which they express their displeasure; they express their anger on the exploitation of their land to the government. So most of the time we do not brand them violent or secret cults because their communities do not tag them that."