US SAILORS KIDNAPPED IN NIGERIA ...

NIGERIAN PIRACY

Piracy in Nigeria is a misnomer. What actually occurs is maritime crime within the territorial waters of Nigeria. This issue has been escalating since 2006 however Somali piracy took on a higher profile due to the daring nature of the pirates and their attacks which mostly occur while vessels are  underway. Nigerian ‘piracy’ involves gangs climbing onto anchored or berthed ships and stealing for re sale. This is a problem which has been on a slow burn for years and in fact the number of incidents which occur in Nigerian waters and the Gulf of Guinea exceeds that of Somalia even at the height of Somali activity.

Nigerian piracy also takes a different form to that of Somalia and is not perpetrated by the same groups .It is distinct in style and tactics. Nigerian piracy is more violent and more homicidal than Somali piracy. The emphasis on Nigerian piracy is cargo rather than crew and cargoes are stolen and re sold to fund continued activity. Nigerian piracy is also gang driven and small closed groups operate in a mafia style operation. These gangs have set areas that they alone operate in in isolation.

There is a separate set of activity which is distinct from the opportunistic maritime thuggery which marks the organised gangs involved in Nigerian piracy. This is where workers are taken off western oil platforms and where oil refineries and work boats are targeted specifically. The latter is a tactic by a local activist group who use terrorist means to raise attention to the situation of the people in the Niger Delta where oil companies generate huge profits and the rest of the area remains under developed and polluted. This is cited as one of the reasons for the militant activity which MEND  (the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta) engages in and which frequently involves kidnapping western oil company workers  for financial gain and media awareness of their issues. MEND itself is a loose organisation of several armed gangs or militias who carry out operations which include kidnapping and ship jacking for cash. It is not a single unified homogenous group.

The group accepted amnesty in 2009 when most of the armed gangs  who operated under a loose coalition accepted the terms of a government amnesty and ceased their activities.  HURRICANE EXODUS is a new code name of the operations of some of the old gangs who do not wish to abide by the amnesty or its terms. This hurricane exodus is designed to focus its attention on oil workers and oil companies presently.