Cape Town (Platts)--16Jan2008

The Nigerian militant group, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger
Delta, or MEND, has threatened "daily" attacks on Nigeria's oil industry after
claiming responsibility for Monday's attack on the convoy of a port authority
official in Port Harcourt.
"MEND Freelance Freedom Fighters; volunteers answering our call to fight
against injustice and oppression in the Niger Delta carried out the attack on
the convoy of a General Manager with the Nigeria Ports Authority in Port
Harcourt, Rivers state," the group said in a statement.
Sotoye Etomi's convoy was attacked with dynamite after it dropped him off.
The attack left the driver of the pilot vehicle and two police escorts dead,
Agence-France Presse reported.
"Attacks will soon become a daily occurrence and we will not necessarily
issue statements on each and everyone except for major significant ones," MEND
said in the email to journalists.
It also warned foreign investors to take "prudent cue" from AP
Moller-Maersk's decision on Monday to suspend all shipping to the Onne port in
Nigeria due to security concerns.
Onne is not an oil export terminal, but is used to supply oil industry
contractors and ships that service the offshore sector. It is located near the
oil hub of Port Harcourt where a tanker was attacked on Friday.
MEND also claimed responsibility for the tanker ship explosion, but the
government denied this, claiming the fire was a result of technical defects on
the ship and not caused by explosives.
MEND launched itself onto the international stage in January 2006 by
claiming responsibility for the capture of four foreign oil workers. It claims
to be fighting for a greater share of the region's oil wealth for the people
of the oil-rich but impoverished southern region.