High Cost Of A Deadly 'Oil War'

35 People Killed, Scores Missing
7 Villages Attacked, 77 Houses Burnt
Millions Worth Of Property Destroyed
JTF Video Shows Soldiers Setting Buildings Ablaze

From Kelvin Ebiri, Port Harcourt

THE Joint Task Force (JTF) onslaught on some Tombia communities in Rivers State might have been aimed at sending a strong signal to militants in the state. But the operation has, however, left in its wake wanton destruction: shedding of blood, shattering of lives, wrecking of homes and creating a deluge of refugees.

In the stillness of the morning of Saturday, September 13, 2007, there was nothing ominous to suggest to the residents of Elem-Tombia, Ogboma, Elem-Bekinkiri, Oloko, Iyalla-Ama, Alapuminjibiri and Mbiakafimimo, whose major occupations are fishing and logging that destruction was lurking in the corner.

But abruptly, at precisely 9am, according to the paramount ruler of Elem-Tombia, Chief Sagbe Tombotamunoaa, a barrage of bombs and rocket-propelled grenades and the booming of general-purpose machine guns from two helicopter gunships pierced the quietness of the mangrove-surrounded community.

Tombotamunoaa told The Guardian that about 13 gunboats with two speedboats, one light green and another dark blue with two helicopter gunships at exactly 9am that fateful day started to bombard his community.

Though the military had attacked Elem-Tombia on two previous occasions - on December 2, 2005 and October 4, 2006, following militants' attack on Cawthorne Channel 2, the fierceness of the recent onslaught "was unprecedented, " Tombotamunoaa lamented.

As the military's long-distant bombing pounded Elem-Tombia, and the soldiers gradually made their push through the shallow creek waters, majority of the residents managed to escape into the dense mangrove forest.

A video of the operation shown to journalists by the JTF Commander, Brigadier-General Sarkin Yarkin Bello in Port Harcourt on Tuesday indicated that the military was unchallenged, as it pushed through to the communities.

As in most conflict where the first casualty is 'truth', the JTF had alleged that militants in the Elem-Tombia axis had attacked a military gunboat on a routine surveillance of the waterways. While the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) had debunked this allegation and declared an 'Oil War' the next day, the affected communities had described the allegation as untrue and insisted that the attack was premeditated.

Chief Tombotamunoaa said the indiscriminate shooting and bombardment of the community claimed the lives of over 10 persons and destruction of over 35 houses mainly built with wood and corrugated iron sheets.

Hours after the soldiers' departure and the people returned from the forest, the sight they saw of their once thriving community was depressing. Most parts had been flattened. The sight of dead bodies overpowered the smell of burnt houses.

As Tombotamunoaa recounted: "We suffered enough fatalities. We recovered five corpses that day and the next day, we also recovered additional five dead persons in the bush. We buried them. The soldiers burnt 35 houses. Even the surrounding forest did not escape the military offensive. Bombs destroyed trees and other vegetation. The evidence is there for all to see."

He observed that even if the military was after suspected militants, whose presence around Elem-Tombia he denied, "the disproportionate and merciless attack on our community cannot be justified because the military cannot prove that it arrested any militant here."

He added: "They burnt down 35 buildings and the properties inside them. They took away three speedboats out of which one is mine with the inscription 'Godday Marine'. They also destroyed three canoes, which our boys used for fishing. Most of the fishing nets were burnt including our clothes. The rampaging soldiers burnt all the food items like beans, yams, rice, periwinkles and garri. Our losses run into millions (of Naira).

On that day, the fishermen that went to fish were chased away. Nobody is going to the sea to fish anymore. Those who went to the ocean to fish the previous day had their fish, valued at several hundreds of thousands of Naira, destroyed and looted by the JTF. They took away four rams, hens, four Yamaha generating sets and three freezers belonging to women who were selling there."

The traditional ruler, who has called on the National Assembly to set up a committee to ascertain the veracity of the JTF claim, wants the government to prevail on the military to stop any further acts of aggression against his community.

As the residents of the affected communities come to terms with the reality of their predicament, the Barasua Bupiri Ogbo-Abali Polo cooperative society is get to overcome the reality of losses.

Chairman of the cooperative, Chief Robert Emmanuel, told The Guardian that when he returned after spending hours in the forest, he realised that the military had destroyed their three speedboats with three engines used for deep-sea fishing valued at about N2.5 million.

He alleged that 20 bundles of varying sizes of nets for deep-sea fishing valued at about N150,000 were set ablaze by the soldiers. Five houses, belonging to the association worth N860,000 including N143,000 physical cash inside the houses and dried fishes of varying sizes worth about N250,000 were destroyed as well.

As the residents of Elem-Bekinkiri waded through the rubbles of shattered glasses of bottles of beer, soft drinks and other items that once marked their sources of livelihood, head of the community's development committee, Mr. Sokari Oselea, said he "wept un-consolably" at the extent of carnage inflicted on the community.

Indeed, a JTF video showed to journalists in Port Harcourt revealed soldiers smashing drinks, setting buildings and property inside ablaze. They also carted many items away from the raided communities.

Oselea alleged that, "on the day of the attack, 15 persons were killed and we are still searching for others. They burnt 24 houses. We lost hundreds of thousands of Naira. I had N80,000 in my house that fateful day. I operate deep-sea fishing and my assets run into millions (of Naira)."

Like others, he denied that militants had camps around his community and challenged the military to produce cogent and verifiable evidence to prove otherwise. He said whenever the community noticed an unknown persons in their midst, they usually alerted the Divisional Police Officer at Degema.

The dumbfounded king of Ogboma community, which was one of the worst hit, Chief Jumbo Onimite, disclosed that he was still grappling to come to terms with the reality of the humanitarian disaster the JTF inflicted on his people.

He said that while three persons were shot dead by the JTF while additional seven drowned in the sea; 18 houses were razed alongside fishing instrument including speedboats and canoes.

Onimite said: "My people are now homeless. All these years, there is no government presence in Ogboma. There is no water, no electricity there. Whatever that was found there was through community effort. The JTF burnt people's sources of livelihood. Elderly men, children and women have been displaced. We are not in the best frame of mind. We want the government to come and rebuild that community."

Mr. Reginald Ekineli, who witnessed the attacks on the adjoining Tombia communities from his native Owupokuobu, said when he saw about eight military gunboats sailing towards the Elem-Tombia general axis, he instinctively knew all was not well.

Shortly afterwards, he said he noticed smoke rising above the Elem-Tombia axis in plumes of thick, black dust. "The entire mangrove area that day was full of noise emanating from machine guns and bombs crashing into people's houses," he said.

Ekineli, who confirmed that Elem-Tombia had been attacked three times in the past four years, said he had directed his people to desert Owupokuobu into the forest the moment the bombardment began.

He said: "We saw helicopter gunships bombing from the air and the whole operation lasted over four hours. The people of the affected communities had nowhere to escape to. We were in the forest till when it was dark. The next day, we could not travel out of our village because the JTF had blocked the sea route and this has affected our livelihood as well. Our people are afraid of going to the sea to fish."

How MEND Spread Its Counter-Attacks On Oil Installations

Claims Death Of Many Soldiers
JTF Describes Assertion As Untrue
AS the military gunboats and helicopter gunshots rumbled back from the Tombia community to their bases after the operations, the MEND, which claimed that its base around the Tombia axis was attacked, declared an 'Oil War' as reprisal for nine of its fighters and civilians killed during the military onslaught.

Just as the attacks on the Tombia communities was all about sending a strong signal by the JTF to the militants and communities suspected to be harbouring them; the militants, too, have also proved that oil installations remains potential targets each time the JTF goes on such an offensive.

MEND's spokesperson, Jomo Gbomo, had warned, on the day the conflict started that the militants would respond to the unprovoked attacks on their base and the communities. He admonished all oil companies to move out their workers within the next 24 hours because "a hurricane is about to sweep through oil installations in the entire Niger Delta region."

Twenty-four hours later, MEND declared an 'oil war' code-named, 'Hurricane Barbarossa.' For a start, the militants attacked a Flow Station and burst pipelines at the Soku Gas Plant. A Chevron Platform was also attacked at Kula and a major crude trunk pipeline at Nembe creek was blown up at many points.

MEND had said: "The operation will continue until the government of Nigeria appreciates that the solution to peace in the Niger Delta is justice, respect and dialogue. This military style bullying belongs to the past 50 years when the Niger Delta people responded only with their mouths, pens and placards."

The next day, the militants struck again by attacking the expansive Alakiri Flow Station complex, a gas plant and field logistics base operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC). The facility was set ablaze.

This attack, according to Shell, claimed the life of community guard working for it, while four other persons were severely injured. MEND had alleged that over 10 solders were killed, an allegation the JTF had described as "untrue."

As a precautionary measure, the SPDC immediately down-manned facilities in some field locations in the region, to avoid its workers being killed in crossfires between the militants and the military, or being taken hostage by militants.

However, MEND's attempt to inflict damage on the Idama oil installation two days after the "war" started was repelled by the JTF guarding it. But hours later, precisely at about 10pm, MEND and the Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF) in a new alliance, attacked and destroyed the Orubiri Flow Station also operated by Shell.

The JTF mouthpiece, Lt.-Col. Sagir Musa, corroborated this incident. He said the militants, in about eight speedboats, attacked the flow station and detonated dynamites, bombs and lobbied some pieces of hand grenades on the facility, which eventually went up in flames.

Gbomo, on his part, alleged that all the soldiers on guard were killed and their gunboat destroyed. However, the JTF confirmed that the facility "caught fire due to intense, sporadic gunshots and massive dynamites and bomb explosion. No naval component of the JTF was killed in the process."

By Wednesday at about 9am, the militants, with the help powerful explosives, destroyed a major pipeline at Rumuekpe community. And on Thursday, at about 6:30pm, MEND struck by using high explosives to destroy another major pipeline belonging to Shell at the Elem-Kalabari Cawthorne Channel axis.

MEND had threatened to extend the 'oil war' to two strategic offshore facilities - the $3.6 billion Bonga and Agbami fields. The group achieved a rare feat last June when it attacked Nigeria's most strategic offshore oil installation, the Bonga field.

And finally, barely 48 hours before it declared a "unilateral ceasefire" following the intervention of Ijaw leaders and well-meaning Nigerians, MEND, on Friday, September 19, 2008, attacked a Shell major pipeline located at Buguma Front in Asari Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State.

Later, Gbomo said: "At such a time, we expect the government to take seriously our demands of effecting true federalism, including fiscal federalism as practiced in all genuine federal republics around the world."

He continued: "The impoverished and neglected inhabitants of oil-producing communities consider our actions to these structures as good riddance to bad rubbish. Oil exploration has brought only pain to them by way of environmental damage (farmlands, fishing and wild life sanctuaries) , harassment from the military and rape of under-aged girls by soldiers, extra-judicial killings of young men and development and wealth to other parts of the country at their detriment."

But assessing the eight-day confrontation with the military, Gbomo revealed in an online interview that, "we lost nine combatants in total. Seven were killed in that surprise aerial attack (on Tombia communities) and two that assisted from a camp in Delta in a counter-attack. No camp was destroyed. The civilian communities were the ones razed by the soldiers - an obvious act of cowardice."

He claimed that, "we killed over 30 soldiers and naval ratings. Some of the corpses still in their uniforms can be seen floating in the banks of the swamps." But the JTT Commander, Brigadier-General Bello has refuted the allegation.

On the revelation by the JTF that it had uncovered over 99 percent of militant camps in Rivers State, the MEND said: "Are they just uncovering camps that have been visited by various government conflict committees? Those camps are not secret locations, but the back-up camps are. If they attack the camps they know, all we will do is to relocate. This is a war the military cannot win and we are not the least bothered because we have heard it all before."

Though the 'war' had been suspended and the various parties in the conflict are counting their losses, the people of Tombia, the hometown of MEND's staunch commander in Rivers State, Farah Dagogo, view the conflict more anxiously.

The Tombia Council of Chiefs has petitioned the presidency and the National Assembly requesting for investigation into the destruction of their seven villages and the killing of over 30 persons by the Joint Task Force (JTF).

In the petition endorsed by the chairman of the Chiefs Council and the secretary, Chief Lucas Aluye-Benibo and Chief Daye Ikiroma-Owiye, they said the people of Tombia now live in perpetual fear because there seemed to be a concerted plan for systematic extermination of their people.

According to the Council, "rumour is rife from the military quarters that the next place of attack by the JTF would be the Tombia Town and its settlements. Our citizens have started running away from the communities for fear of being killed by the Nigerian security forces."

A visit by The Guardian to Tombia exposed stories of how this once thriving community has changed over the years and particularly within a few weeks. The sea route to Tombia is most often empty, a lucid indication of the atmosphere of fear that pervades the area.

Posted by Inemo Samiama