The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) on July 6 blew up a Chevron platform in Okan that accounts for 80% of the company's offshore operations Nigeria's south. A MEND statement said the attack was carried out by the militant group's "Hurricane Moses" team "in retaliation" for the "abduction of a traditional chief" by Nigeria's Joint Task Force. MEND spokesman Jomo Gbomo said, "as long as the government and the JTF choose to carry out kidnappings and arson against innocent communities and individuals, Moses will fight for them."

He demanded that the traditional ruler "being held illegally by the JTF" be released immediately or charged to court. In another attack on July 3, the group said it blew up a Royal Dutch Shell oil well at Cawthorne Channel in Rivers state. (Daily Independent, Lagos, via AllAfrica, July 7; Xinhua, July 6)

See our last post on the Nigerian petro-resistance.

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