Nigerian forces take on militia in oil war
Nigerian troops battled militia forces in the creeks and mangrove swamps of Africa’s leading oil region, pressing an offensive that has brought refugees from fighting streaming by the thousands into the main oil hub.
The crackdown – with soldiers sealing off the river approaches to the hub, Port Harcourt, and helicopter gunships patrolling overhead – comes as the latest in yearlong violence that at times has shut down up to 40% of oil production in the world’s number seven oil giant.
The army and navy launched their offensive last week in response to deadly militia raids late last month into Port Harcourt, a city of three million that is Nigeria’s most important oil centre.
The military is aiming to keep the waterways around Port Harcourt safe and open, and to “stop the fighters from coming into the city,” an official said
Nigeria’s military is battling criminal gangs and ethnic militias for control of oil wealth from the Niger Delta. Violence in the past year has killed more than 1,000 people.
