In this issue:

Separatism Emerges in Nigeria's Oil-Producing Niger Delta

State Department Warns Nigeria To 'Keep Peace' in Delta

Report: Asari in Talks with Obasanjo While Under Arrest

Asari's Political Savvy Makes Him Dangerous

From Volume 3, Issue Number 40 of EIR Online, Published Oct. 5, 2004
Africa News Digest

Separatism Emerges in Nigeria's Oil-Producing Niger Delta

Mujahid Dokubo Asari, a separatist warlord in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta, arrived in Abuja, the capital, Sept. 29, saying he came for talks with President Olusegun Obasanjo. He told Reuters that his planned offensive against the government, scheduled to begin Oct. 1, would be suspended if an agreement was reached on self-determination and resource control in the Delta. Almost all of Nigeria's 2.3 million barrels of oil per day are produced in the Delta. Asari's Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force threatened Sept. 27 to launch an "all-out war on the Nigerian state," advised all foreign oil workers to leave the Delta, and told oil companies to shut down their operations.

EIR notes that the major oil companies themselves promote separatism in oil-rich regions as a matter of standard practice, absorbing the short-term consequences, because mini-states have no bargaining power. But their practice is also fully consistent with the oligarchy's IMF and World Bank decivilizing policy worldwide.

State Department Warns Nigeria To 'Keep Peace' in Delta

The U.S. State Department has warned Nigeria to "keep the peace" in the Niger Delta. After separatist leader Mujahid Dokubo Asari, on Sept. 27, threatened "all-out war on the Nigerian state," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told the press Sept. 28 that "We've made clear to the Nigerian authorities they have a responsibility to keep the peace in that area for the sake of the people as well as for the safety of American citizens and property," noting that the region is "among the poorest in the country."

United Press International reported on Sept. 29 that Asari's threats "contributed to oil prices surpassing $50 per barrel overnight," Sept. 27.

In August, the Nigerian Defense Ministry announced that Nigeria and the United States had agreed to hold "joint military training in the Niger Delta."

Report: Asari in Talks with Obasanjo While Under Arrest

Niger Delta separatist leader Asari, while holding talks with Nigerian President Obasanjo and others, is also under arrest, according to the Nigerian Daily Independent Oct. 1, citing a statement by Information Minister Chukwuemeka Chikelu on Sept. 29. Chikelu claimed Mujahid Dokubo Asari was cooperating with the government in seeking to resolve the conflict in the Niger Delta. Asari's version is that a truce has been agreed to while talks go on. Asari's arrest had not been reported by other media as of Oct. 2, but it is credible, in light of the government's recent declaration that he was "wanted dead or alive."

Obasanjo had reacted to Asari's threat to start blowing up oil installations in the Niger Delta beginning Oct. 1, by mobilizing the region's political leaders to find Asari. He was flown to Abuja on Sept. 29 on a Presidential jet after receiving certain assurances, along with five other members of his Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force.

Shell Oil spokesman Don Boham said, "We are not in any way moved by [Asari's] threat. We believe the Nigerian security forces are equal to the task of safeguarding oil installations and protecting workers," according to the Daily Champion Sept. 29. Shell had in fact announced the shutdown of its Santa Barbara flowstation (28,000 barrels/day) Sept. 28 because of the violence and, according to unconfirmed reports, evacuated 200 non-essential staff the week before.

Amnesty International says 500 people died in Delta violence, in the three weeks ending mid-September, mainly in gun battles between separatist insurgents travelling in speedboats, and a new deployment of government troops sent into the Delta.

The National Council of State, including four former heads of state, met Sept. 28 and gave its approval for President Obasanjo to use all available means to respond to any group threatening Nigeria's sovereignty.

Asari's Political Savvy Makes Him Dangerous

Mujahid Dokubo Asari and his organization are more dangerous than the mere gangs and cults operating in the Niger Delta, because of his political savvy.

Interviewed by The News of Lagos Sept. 13, Asari said that while gasoline is selling for N45 per liter in Abuja and Lagos, in the Delta it is sold for N200. "This same oil I am refining it and selling at N15 per liter in the riverine areas.... They are happy because I have emancipated them from Obasanjo and [Rivers State Governor] Odili's slavery." He did not explain how he has refining capability.

"Everyday I travel, I meet the Navy and Army on the high seas," Asari boasted. "My people ... smoke exchange cigarettes with them and greet each other and we discuss and we move.... Whenever they are sent after us, they just shoot in the air and run away." He also claimed, "When we came to Port Harcourt the last time and saw the Navy, they complained that their war boats had broken down. We seized their arms, rescued them and their boats, escorted them, and after that we gave them back their arms."

Even if these claims should be only partly true, they show Asari knows how to build a popular base.

Asari claims, "We have cordial relationship with [separatist organizations] MASSOB and OPC." MASSOB is the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra; OPC is the O'odua Peoples Congress (of the Yoruba).

"Nigeria as a state is illegal," Asari blustered. "We must have a Sovereign National Conference because Nigeria is a nullity and does not exist."

Asari, aged 40, is the son of a high court justice. He studied law at the University of Calabar, where he was a student leader and a socialist. He converted to Islam there in 1988, even though there are very few Muslims among the 11 million Ijaw people—the only people he seeks to lead. He says he admires Osama bin Laden, and named a son after him because of his fight against Western imperialism, but his own struggle is not Islamist, but separatist. There are, however, competing Ijaw organizations.

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