Militia group threatens show of force in oil region of Nigeria

LAGOS, Nigeria -- Militiamen trying to wrest control of the oil-rich Niger Delta threatened on Tuesday to launch a "full-scale armed struggle" on petroleum-pumping operations in Africa's largest crude oil producing nation, urging foreign oil workers to leave the region.

A military spokesman, however, called the threats "empty." Major oil companies played the warnings down, saying they won't seriously affect exports and issuing no orders to staff to pull out.

The threats, nevertheless, helped push world oil prices to historic highs of $50 per barrel Tuesday.

"Any part of Nigeria, wherever we have the opportunity to strike any target, we will strike," said militia leader Moujahid Dokubo-Asari, who heads the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force.

Dokubo-Asari, seen as a folk hero by many poor residents who complain they've never shared in the country's oil wealth, said foreign workers will be considered targets as of Friday -- the 44th anniversary of Nigeria's independence from Britain.

Dokubo-Asari claims to be fighting for self-determination in the region and greater control over oil resources for more than 8 million Ijaws, the dominant tribe in the southern delta region, which accounts for nearly all of Nigeria's daily oil exports.

The government dismisses Dokubo-Asari's group as criminals, accusing them of illegally siphoning oil from pipelines.

Some Nigerian analysts say the militia could disrupt oil operations, but doesn't have the power to shut them down.

"I think the militia group is engaging in a bit of psychological warfare by issuing those threats," said Mike Ikelionwu, an oil expert with NigeriaInvest, a business research firm in Lagos. "It's certainly beyond (their) capacity to force oil companies to shut down and pull their workers out of the Niger Delta, especially at a time a government offensive has put them to flight."

Nigeria's military launched its latest offensive against Dokubo-Asari's fighters early this month in response to deadly raids in August by the militia into Port Harcourt, the country's main oil industry center.

Since then, army helicopter gunships and troops in gunboats have raided and bombarded 10 towns and villages considered militia strongholds, killing dozens, militia leaders say.

Although it is difficult to determine the militia's strength, Dokubo-Asari claims to command 2,000 fighters and the support of tens of thousands more armed ethnic Ijaw fighters in the region. His group has battled government troops since April.

On Tuesday, military spokesman Col. Ganiyu Adewale dismissed Dokubo-Asari's latest warnings as an "empty threat."

"All oil installations are being manned by the armed forces and oil workers are safe," Adewale said. "The military is there to contain the situation. I foresee no problems at all."

Nigeria's senior oil adviser told Dow Jones Newswires he was confident foreign oil firms wouldn't succumb to threats to halt production.

"We have had these kind of threats before and nothing has happened," Edmund Dakoru said.

A representative of Eni SpA, Agip's parent company in Rome, said it had no plans to evacuate staff from Nigeria and said its daily exports of 200,000 barrels would not be affected.

Donald Boham, a spokesman for Royal Dutch/Shell's subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd., said, "we're not really worried about the threats. But we have to watch the situation as it develops."

The company said in a statement, however, that it was "taking precautionary measures for the safety of staff" and had ordered their movements curtailed.

Nigeria is the world's seventh-largest exporter and the fifth-biggest source of U.S. oil imports.