Five killed as troops, militants clash in Niger Delta

Clashes between navy troops and ethnic Ijaw militants near Nigeria's southern oil town of Warri resulted in the death of five civilians, heightening tension in the town and other parts of the Niger Delta, community activists said on Sunday. Activists of the Federated Niger Delta Ijaw Communities (FNDIC) group said in a statement that the civilians died when troops had lauched a raid on Okerenkoko, an Ijaw community, on Thursday. The soldiers had accused community members of planning to disrupt the operations of oil transnational Royal/Dutch Shell and to attack nearby communities, they said. Nigerian navy spokesman, Shinebi Hungiapuko, confirmed there had been clashes between troops and armed militants. He said the situation was still under control but did not give further details. Shell has key oil facilities in the area. It said on Sunday it had begun evacuating "non-essential" staff from the affected areas in compliance with its safety regulations. The company has also shut down two oil facilities with a combined output of 55,000 barrels per day as a precautionary measure, officials said. Shell officials also said three policemen escorting a company barge on the Esravos River were taken hostage on Friday and were yet to be freed. The latest unrest has its roots in a violent dispute which broke out in Warri in February between the Urhobo and Itshekiri communities over the delineation of electoral wards ahead of April-May general elections. The Ijaw community later sided with the Urhobo, alleging that the way the boundaries of the wards were drawn up favoured the Itshekiri. "Our fear is that the whole political processes in Warri is being militarised," Bello Oboko, president of FNDIC, said in a petition to President Olusegun Obasanjo, a copy of which was sent to IRIN. "Security operatives have been secured to perpetuate unlawfully delineated electoral wards." Tension in the Warri area has added to apprehension that the coming elections, the first since the 1999 vote that ended more than 15 years of military rule, may be marred by violence. Rival supporters of different political parties have clashed in various parts of the country, while several cases of political assassinations have been recorded nationwide.