Vortex of Violence Continues in the Niger Delta

If anyone still denies the existence of the “resource curse”, maybe a trip to the Niger Delta wouldn’t go amiss. They should also read the Stakeholder Democracy Network’s latest depressing news on what happened in August in the Niger Delta:

• “A signification increase in kidnappings totalling 19 expatriates, mainly in Rivers state, including six taken from ‘Goodfellas’ bar in central Port Harcourt.
• President Obasanjo on 15^th August directs security forces to meet ‘force with force’ in the Niger Delta.
• Soldiers burn settlement adjacent to compound of Italian Oil servicing company, Saipem, after army sergeant is killed during the kidnapping of an Italian worker.
• Seventeen persons killed in Bayelsa State– including ten militia members and a Shell worker, reportedly in process of being released – in a clash with a military patrol.
• Militia group MEND on 28^th August declares an end to kidnapping of oil workers and warns other groups and communities off the practice, as controversies escalate over ransom demands and payments”.

  Nothing changes then.