AFRICA: NIGER DELTA

Conflict in the niger Delta arose in the early 1990s due to tensions between the foreign oil corporations and a number of the Niger Delta's minority ethnic groups who felt they were being exploited. Competition for oil wealth has fueled violence between innumerable ethnic groups, causing the militarization of nearly the entire region by ethnic militia groups as well as nigerian military and police forces. Victims of crimes are fearful of seeking justice for crimes committed against them.

It is a very difficult situation, to which all of us may feel related to, is a daily conflict that is affecting all the Nigeria delta population, amazing stories arise every day and if you don`t live that situation by yourself is almost impossible to believe, just like our country, human rights violations, unemployment, insecurity, kidnapping are some of our daily situation that is seen also in Niger Delta.

Nigeria is one of the world's biggest oil exporters and yet most Delta residents live in poverty. The region is home to a huge industry of stealing oil and selling it on the black market. I really hope this conflict gets a solution, one almost every day think about the world`s future, and this is a situation about which I never heard ever before, is not only about us, our problems, the trade relations, globalization, USA elections, global warm, there is other countries with huge problems, and as an international negotiator is important to be sensitive toward any situation and be constantly inform about everything.

Which are the main problems faced by this region?

"Violence in the Delta is nothing new. Tribal conflict has plagued the region for years. Well-armed and organized gangs have been present almost as long as the oil companies, making tens of millions of dollars in "bunkering" operations in which oil is illegally siphoned off (and causing, oil companies have long maintained, most of the local environmental damage as a result). The gangsters have also extorted money by kidnapping oil workers and supplying "security" services in exchange for not attacking installations."

"Corruption doesn't help. A Nigerian government audit of the oil industry last month showed discrepancies worth hundreds of millions of dollars between what oil companies say they paid the government and what authorities say they received. The federal government says it is tightening up its oversight. And there's the problem of what state governments do with the money they receive from Abuja."


Nigeria's Deadly Days
Time International. (Atlantic ed.). New York: May 22, 2006. pg. 20