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Troops Deployed to Check Threat to Shell's Installations

Vanguard (Lagos)
NEWS
April 15, 2004
Posted to the web April 15, 2004

By Osaro Okhomina
Warri
AHEAD of the expiration today of the 20-day ultimatum of mass destruction of
Shell pipelines and installations by some Ijaw youths from Bayelsa and Delta
States, Commander of the Joint Security Task Force, Operation Restore Hope,
Brig.-Gen. Elias Zamani yesterday said over 2,000 soldiers had been deployed
across the region to monitor and shoot any unauthorized movement near oil
installations and pipelines.
Meanwhile, the Niger-Delta Peace Coalition has Condemned the threat of the
youths describing it as "unattractive" to sustainable development in the Niger-
Delta.
The deployment of soldiers yesterday was in reaction to the threat notice
handed Shell last month by an Ijaw group known as Delta-Bayelsa Freedom
Fighters demanding N60 million ransom from the oil company allegedly meant to
develop the devastated Ijaw Communities within the area of Shell's operations.
Vanguard gathered at the Effurun headquarters of the Task Force that the
deployment was ordered to reinforce the presence of soldiers in those areas
threatened.
A senior military source told Vanguard that "we don't want to live anything to
chance. We have alerted our men and sent in more soldiers to be on guard. If
they discover any illegal movement within the vicinity of oil installations,
they should shoot to kill."
Vanguard gathered that Shell has come under increasing threat in recent times
by militant groups in Delta and Bayelsa States over its rumoured plan to
relocate its operations. Speaking on the development yesterday, National Co-
ordinator of the Niger-Delta Peace Coalition (NDPC), Mr. Zik Gbemre condemned
the threat.
Gbemre in a statement issued yesterday in Warri called on the Federal
Government and security agencies not to dismiss the threat, but "treat it with
urgency and track down those behind it".
He contended that "the demand for a N60 million ransom from SPDC is extortion
and the youths should look for a more genuine means of livelihood, it is the
duty of everyone to make the region attractive for sustainable development."

   

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