afrol News, 16 July - Thousands of Niger Delta dwellers fled their homes amid reports that Nigerian militants have threatened to behead people who do not originate from Bonny, an island along the delta.

A widely circulated Nigerian Tribune newspaper article by residents has quoted militants saying they would return on 16 July after killing nine people including a pregnant woman two weeks ago.

The Island’s youth leader, Mr Kingsley Adonis Pepple said delta residents took the threat seriously and began to flee the area. "They were handing out copies of this article to people in the street. There was panic. People packed up their entire family into a boat and fled," he said.

Nigerian which has been battling with insurgency of armed groups, saying they are fighting for a greater share of oil wealth for the region has cut more than 25 percent of the country's oil exports since 2006 allowing Angola to overtake Nigeria.

Mr Adonis Pepple who claimed to have contacted all armed rebel groups in the delta, said rebels had refuted the article, but his measure to calm down residents were futile due to panic that was visible in the streets.

Bonny, a city of over 100,000 people, many of whom work in the oil industry is a home to major oil and gas export terminal which was attacked by militants two months ago, but Shell has announced that it has been repaired and oil production had resumed.

Oil militants have also kidnapped oil workers for ransom, some kidnappings are alleged to be criminally motivated and are seen as means by some gangs along the delta to earn a living.

Nigeria has seen several communal clashes in recent years which led to death of hundreds of people in Plateau state in 2004 in clashes between Christian militias and Hausa Muslims.

Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua who last week called for international support to curb oil smuggling which he said is fuelling unrest in the country's southern Niger Delta is meeting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to discuss security issues for the region.

Mr Brown has offered Britain’s help in cracking down on an insurrection in the oil-producing Niger Delta region, where theft and sabotage has shut oil fields which has contributed to soaring world energy prices.

Conflict in the region surged in the early 1990s due to tensions between foreign oil corporations and different ethnic groups in the region, who felt they were being exploited.

Unrests have continued throughout the 1990s, persisting until 2007, despite Nigeria's conversion to democratic rule and election of the Obasanjo government in 1999.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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