25.01.2008 - Source:

For information on violence in the Niger Delta see chapter "Violence within the context of oil production" [ID 22040]

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06.03.2007 - Source: US Department of State

Warri: Fresh violence broke out despite the 2004 ceasefire ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2006") [ID 20050]

"Interethnic fighting has long been a problem in Warri, Delta State, resulting in casualties and the displacement of tens of thousands of local inhabitants. Despite a ceasefire in Warri that was negotiated in 2004, fresh violence broke out during the year."

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08.03.2006 - Source: US Department of State

Policeman shot bus driver who was unable to pay a bribe ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2005") [#46036],  [ID 15674]

"On October 17, in Obiaruku, Delta State, a policeman on the Special Anti-Robber Squad shot and killed a commercial bus driver when the driver was unable to pay a bribe. The policeman was dismissed from the force two days later and charged with murder. The trial had not begun by year's end."

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08.03.2006 - Source: US Department of State

2 oil workers kidnapped by gang of armed youths ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2005") [#46036],  [ID 15823]

"On September 28, a gang of armed youths kidnapped two Pan Ocean Oil Corporation workers from a bar in the Delta State. Shortly afterwards, the bus transporting the hostages was spotted, and police quickly freed the hostages after a brief gun battle in which the bus driver was killed."

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08.03.2006 - Source: US Department of State

Displacement of thousands of local inhabitants due to interethnic fightings ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2005") [#46036],  [ID 17440]

"Interethnic fighting has long been a problem in Warri, Delta State, resulting in casualties and the displacement of tens of thousands of local inhabitants. The ceasefire in Warri, negotiated in 2004, remained largely in effect during the year, and there were fewer incidents of violence. Interethnic fighting elsewhere in the Delta also displaced tens of thousands of local inhabitants. In 2004 militia groups operating in Port Harcourt and other areas around the Delta region carried out violent operations that ended when officials from the presidency negotiated directly with militant leaders and reached a cease-fire agreement. The agreement was implemented by the government of Rivers State and largely held until September, when violence was reignited by the arrests of Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha and militia leader Asari Dokubo (see section 1.d) Following the October arrest of Dokubo, leader of the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force (see section 1.d.), tensions remained high for several weeks with increased threats and instances of crime, particularly against foreign interests, that could have been politically motivated. However, these threats also may have been the result of groups taking advantage of the heightened tensions for monetary gain."

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01.06.2004 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Niger Delta region: the leaders of rival ethnic militias agreed to make peace in Warri amid security crackdown ("Rival delta militia leaders agree peace amid security crackdown") [#22963],  [ID 15251]

"The leaders of rival ethnic militias agreed to make peace in the Nigerian oil town of Warri on Tuesday, while government officials urged foreign oil companies to resume operations disrupted by fighting in the Niger Delta region during the last year.

In another part of the town, troops of a joint military task force demolished houses in three slum districts in an operation aimed at ridding Warri of the guns and criminals that have fuelled violence in the town.

The peace agreement struck between the Ijaw and Itsekiri militias crowned efforts by Delta State governor James Ibori to end fighting between the two communities over claims to land and oil-related benefits. More than 200 people have died in ethnic clashes in Delta State over the past year.

Abel Oshevire, the spokesman for Delta State government, said he believed the peace agreement would hold and would be widely respected. [...]

The government also brought heavy pressure on the militants to lay down their weapons by deploying extra troops to the area and leaning heavily on community leaders.

Several of those who signed the peace deal said they had been arrested and interrogated by the security forces and had been pressured into asking their followers to stop fighting.

However, some militants are already expressing doubts that the government's strong-arm tactics will be enough to quell the violence and stamp out the deep-seated resentment among people in the Delta’s poverty-stricken swamp villages at the way they have been treated by the government and the oil companies pumping the wealth out of their land."

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26.01.2004 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Niger Delta: at least 5 people killed in a fresh outbreak of fighting between rival ethnic militias, the Itsekiri and Ijaw, near the town of Warri ("At least five killed in fresh Itsekiri, Ijaw clashes") [#18967],  [ID 15252]

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28.05.2003 - Source: Amnesty International

Niger Delta: Niger Delta: The Ijaw ethnic group was among those organising peaceful protests against oil compagnies ("Annual Report 2003") [#13067],  [ID 15253]

"On 8 August several hundred Ijaw, Itsekiri and Urhobo women staged a peaceful protest outside the operational headquarters of the oil companies Shell and Chevron-Texaco in Warri, Delta State. Some of the women, who said the protests were violently broken up by soldiers and Mobile Police officers, had scars and bruises, which they said had been caused by beatings, floggings and kicking by police and soldiers."

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