Nigerian Mend rebels claim Exxon kidnapping

Nigeria's Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of seven oil workers in a raid on an ExxonMobil facility on Sunday and has threatened a major attack.

Reuters

Mend made a press statement confirming that the attack on the ExxonMobil Ibeno oil facility in Akwa Ibom state was carried out by its fighters. The group also claimed the Nigerian military has fired rockets at one of its camps. 

02:47

William Hartley, London

Mark Rodden

The offshore factory raid was the latest in a string of incidents in recent months in the Niger Delta - the heart of the country's huge oil industry.

“Certainly Mend wants us to see this as part of a renewed campaign by a united movement,” says William Hartley, manager of Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre. “In part, the attacks at the moment are an attempt to re-establish Mend effectively as an active brand. But what we are now talking about in terms of Mend is nowhere near what we used to consider to be Mend last year, which was a coordinated movement operating across the Delta.”

Last year, the government introduced a programme whereby rebels could swap arms for education programmes. All the major field commanders of Delta rebel groups are still committed to it, but there have been some problems in implementing the system efficiently.

“Foot soldiers have experienced considerable delays in getting what they had been promised," says Hartley. "This inevitably results in disaffection and creates a constituency of people who are susceptible to being re-recruited by the militant organisations.”