Nigerian troops attack Ijaw village in oil region

[Free Nigeria Movement <FNM@ix.netcom.com>]

  Nigerian troops attack Ijaw
                        village in oil region
  
                        2 October 1997
                        Web posted at: 19:44 SAT, Johannesburg time (17:44
  GMT)
  
                        WARRI, Nigeria, Oct 2 (Reuter) - At least one
  person died and
                        58 people were arrested during an attack by
  security forces on an
                        ethnic Ijaw village in Nigeria's tense
  oil-producing Niger Delta,
                        witnesses said on Thursday.
  
                        Witnesses said 14 houses were burned down and over
  20 boats
                        destroyed in the attack on the fishing village of
  Ekeremor-Zion on
                        Tuesday night.
  
                        They said the 58 people, including one 70-year-old
  man, had been
                        detained at a military base in connection with the
  kidnapping last
                        month of four soldiers, one of whom was later
  found dead.
  
                        Local authorities were unavailable for comment.
  The four soldiers,
                        who disappeared on patrol in mysterious
  circumstances and were
                        later said by the military to have been kidnapped,
  were part of a
                        task force sent to enforce order in the volatile,
  ethnically diverse
                        Niger Delta.
  
                        Scores of people died earlier this year when
  majority Ijaws
                        clashed with rivals of the Itsekiri tribe over the
  relocation of a local
                        government headquarters near the region's main
  town of Warri.
  
                        Ekeremor-Zion, which is not in the immediate
  vicinity of any oil
                        installations, is one of four villages involved in
  a bitter legal wrangle
                        with oil company Royal Dutch/Shell over payment of
  
                        compensation for an oil spillage in 1982.
  
                        Most of Nigeria's production of more than two
  million barrels of
                        crude oil per day comes from the Niger Delta.
  
  http://cnn.com/WORLD/africa/9710/02/RB000259.reut.html
  
  ------------------

Title: Nigerian troops attack Ijaw village in oil region

Nigerian troops attack Ijaw village in oil region

2 October 1997
Web posted at: 19:44 SAT, Johannesburg time (17:44 GMT)

WARRI, Nigeria, Oct 2 (Reuter) - At least one person died and 58 people were arrested during an attack by security forces on an ethnic Ijaw village in Nigeria's tense oil-producing Niger Delta, witnesses said on Thursday.

Witnesses said 14 houses were burned down and over 20 boats destroyed in the attack on the fishing village of Ekeremor-Zion on Tuesday night.

They said the 58 people, including one 70-year-old man, had been detained at a military base in connection with the kidnapping last month of four soldiers, one of whom was later found dead.

Local authorities were unavailable for comment. The four soldiers, who disappeared on patrol in mysterious circumstances and were later said by the military to have been kidnapped, were part of a task force sent to enforce order in the volatile, ethnically diverse Niger Delta.

Scores of people died earlier this year when majority Ijaws clashed with rivals of the Itsekiri tribe over the relocation of a local government headquarters near the region's main town of Warri.

Ekeremor-Zion, which is not in the immediate vicinity of any oil installations, is one of four villages involved in a bitter legal wrangle with oil company Royal Dutch/Shell over payment of compensation for an oil spillage in 1982.

Most of Nigeria's production of more than two million barrels of crude oil per day comes from the Niger Delta.

-- Lagos newsroom +234 1 2630317

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