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09/24/2004:

"Shell Evacuates Staff from Nigerian Delta Conflict"

LAGOS (Reuters) - Multinational oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell has evacuated non-essential staff from two oilfields in Nigeria where troops are fighting a major offensive against rebel militia, a spokesman said.

The decision to withdraw 235 workers was taken as a precaution after the company noted troop movements Thursday around the Soku and Ekulama fields, about 30 miles west of the southern city of Port Harcourt, he added. Oil production was not affected.

...Companies are on a heightened state of alert after a commander of the rebel Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force (NDPVF) told Reuters Thursday that they would attack oil installations unless the military halted a two-week-old operation to flush out what it calls armed bandits from their river hideouts in the remote area of mangrove swamps and creeks.

Nigerian troops fired on an NDPVF camp using helicopter gunships last week, killing several militants.

An army spokesman said troops raided a village near the Shell oilfields, but met no resistance from suspected militants hiding there.

``Soldiers went in to continue their cordon and search operations to track down the gangsters,'' the spokesman said.

``Our people recovered communications gadgets, but when the gangsters spotted the soldiers they ran away.''

Companies fear a repeat of last year's uprising in the nearby Delta state by members of the Ijaw tribe, who are in majority in the region, which forced companies to shut 40 percent of Nigeria's production.

GUARD KILLED

So far, the delta militants have not targeted oil facilities in Africa's top oil producer, although a security guard at one Shell flow station was killed last month in crossfire.

``The troops are not there to protect our facilities. They are going after militants,'' the Shell spokesman said.

Nigeria is the world's seventh largest oil exporter and the fifth most important supplier to the United States. About half the nation's 2.5 million barrels per day comes from the eastern delta around Port Harcourt.

The NDPVF has been fighting rival militias in Rivers state since last year, a conflict that observers say is linked to broader political rivalries in the state.

The army announced earlier this month that it was taking over security in Rivers state from the police to ``cleanse the state of all forms of armed banditry.'' Hundreds of extra troops have been moved to places that have seen regular violence.

Amnesty International estimated up to 500 people were killed in fighting in the three weeks to mid-September, but the government says the number is much smaller.

NDPVF leader Mujahid Dokubo-Asari says he is fighting for self-determination for the Niger delta, where most people live in abject poverty despite having all the nation's oil. The government describes him as a bandit fighting for control of smuggling routes used by oil thieves.

Full Article: Reuters