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Nigerian militant amnesty starts
BBC online
During the next two months the government hopes about 10,000 armed men will surrender their weapons in return for a pardon and retraining.
It is not yet clear how many of the region’s numerous armed groups will take part in the amnesty.
They attack oil refineries and smash pipelines in what they say is a fight for a fair share of the delta’s wealth.
In recent months the violent struggle in the delta has worsened, but the amnesty offer is being hailed by analysts as one of the most significant efforts so far to end the unrest.
…Officials said gunmen who accept amnesty would be given 65,000 naira ($433; £255) a month for food and living expenses during the rehabilitation programme, which runs from 6 August to 4 October.
But the main rebel group in the region, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), has not yet said it will take part in the amnesty.
“When we choose to disarm, it will be done freely, knowing that the reason for our uprising which is the emancipation of the Niger Delta from neglect and injustice has been achieved,” the group said in statement e-mailed to the AFP news agency.
(6 August 2009)
Clinton Seeks U.S. Africa Gains as China Expands Oil Purchases
Janine Zacharia, Bloomberg
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shifts to economic statecraft this week on an African tour that stops in major oil and mineral exporters as she seeks advantages for U.S. investors in a market where China is making inroads.
After six months of dealing with North Korean provocations, Iran’s election unrest and a coup in Honduras, Clinton will turn to issues of trade and energy in sub-Saharan Africa. She will spend time in Nigeria and Angola, two of the biggest suppliers of crude oil to the U.S.
China has boosted investment commitments in Africa, especially in mining, and Chinese oil purchases are expanding from countries such as Sudan. In 2007, China was the largest individual exporter to the region with a market share of 9.8 percent, the U.S. Commerce Department reported in July. The U.S. market share in 2007 fell to 5.3 percent in exports.
…Clinton is going to Nigeria and Angola “because we have serious political, economic and hydrocarbon interests in those countries,” Carson told reporters July 30 in Washington.
…Clinton’s seven-nation trip begins with an Aug. 5 free- trade summit in Kenya, followed by visits with peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo and talks with the new South African leadership. She also stops in Liberia and Cape Verde.
The Africa trip is an early example of Clinton’s stated intention to strengthen economic outreach as part of U.S. foreign policy, a goal she articulated to the Council on Foreign Relations last month.
(4 August 2009)
Iran: New confrontation looms
Paul Reynolds, BBC online
As Mahmoud Ahmadinejad receives the endorsement of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei for a second term as president, a new confrontation with Western countries is beginning to gather strength.
The United States is leading an effort to impose sanctions on Iran’s oil industry if Iran does not suspend uranium enrichment and enter talks about its nuclear programme.
…Crucially, these new sanctions could include a ban on sending refined petroleum products and by-products to Iran. This means petrol, kerosene, diesel, propane and butane gas. Despite its oil wealth, Iran still cannot refine enough for its domestic needs.
The US also wants restrictions on buying oil and gas from Iran and on investments in Iran’s oil and gas industries.
“Any new sanctions have to be of a different order of magnitude,” was how one Western official put it recently.
(3 August 2009)
