Militants vow to remain at seized oil facilities

Ijaw militants who seized three oil pumping facilities owned by Royal/Dutch Shell in the Niger Delta have vowed to continue their action until their demands for jobs and amenities for their communities are met, a local newspaper reported on Friday. 'The Guardian', a Lagos daily, reported that negotiations between Shell and the militants, who have occupied the facilities since Saturday, had broken down.

The daily reported that President Olusegun Obasanjo's government had sent troops into the area with instructions not to engage the militants while a peaceful solution was being sought to the stand-off. Youths from impoverished communities in the Delta, the country's main oil-producing area, have often disrupted oil production to draw attention to the lack of amenities, widespread unemployment and environmental degradation which their people have suffered for decades.