Umaru Yar'adua

Nigeria Rebels Vow More Attacks After ‘Warning Strike’ On Oil Pipeline — Christian Science Monitor Nigeria’s fragile Oct. 25 cease-fire with militants in the oil-rich Niger Delta region has come dangerously close to a violent end, as rebels took credit this weekend for an attack on an oil pipeline. Nigeria’s fragile truce with rebels in the oil-rich Niger Delta region has come dangerously close to a violent end, as rebels took credit this weekend for an attack on an oil pipeline some 30 miles west of Port Harcourt. The rebel group Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said that the attack ... Read Full Story

Nigerian militants attacked an oil pipeline early Saturday morning, breaking a tenuous cease-fire with the government over the long absence of its ill president. Militants armed with assault rifles, machine guns and rocket launchers attacked a major crude oil pipeline operated by Shell and Chevron in Nigeria's Rivers State, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said in a statement. Group spokesman Jomo Gbomo said the group would consider the unconditional cease-fire agreement it made with the government on Oct. 25 void for the next 30 days. The attack comes after President Umaru Yar'Adua held formal peace talks with the group and ... Read Full Story

The main armed rebel group in oil-rich southern Nigeria early Saturday attacked a crude oil pipeline operated by Shell and Chevron, the militants said, ending a nearly two-month freeze on strikes. MEND said the "warning strike (was) carried out by five boats involving thirty five ... fighters armed with assault rifles, rocket launchers and heavy calibre machine guns ... at about 0200Hrs today... on a major Shell/Chevron crude pipeline in southern Rivers State." The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta claimed the attack in an e-mail statement, like its previous strikes, and said the pipeline was located in Abonemma, some 50 kilometres ... Read Full Story

President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has said the Commonwealth of Nations has progressed from being just a handful of nations representing former British colonies to a major force on global matters. According to him, Nigeria remains a proud member of the Commonwealth and a strong promoter of its unique objectives. A statement from the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Ima Niboro, said Yar'Adua made the remarks Saturday through the Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan, who received the Queen's baton for the Commonwealth Games on the president's behalf from members of the Queen's baton team in State House, ... Read Full Story

After decades of military rule, coups and strong-armed elections, Africa's most populous nation now finds itself with a seriously ill, and absent, president. For weeks, President Umaru Yar'Adua has been hospitalized in Saudi Arabia for what staffers say is a serious heart condition. With no clear successor, Nigeria is roiled by uncertainty and some prominent citizens are even calling for his resignation. The president, long troubled by a kidney ailment and poor health, did not formally appoint an acting leader in the West African country before he left, as the constitution requires. The constitution puts Vice President Goodluck Jonathan next in line, but it's ... Read Full Story