Britain Offers Training to Quell N’Delta Violence
07.17.2008
UK Visit
Britain is to help Nigeria crack down on violence which has disrupted oil supplies in the troubled Niger Delta through a security training force, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said yesterday.
Speaking after talks with President Umaru Yar'Adua, a senior Downing Street official indicated this would involve British military experts providing military advice to Nigeria.
"The UK will ... work with the government of Nigeria to identify a training and advisory support package which could help improve Nigerian capability to improve security in the Delta," Brown said at a news conference.
"The security training force that we're talking about will be support for the Nigerians, to be able to have trainers and others who can build up this capacity locally to deal with the problems."
No more details were immediately available about the numbers of experts or a timeframe for action.
Brown added that the high price of oil meant it was necessary to look around the world for sources.
"One of the areas where we can make greatest progress most quickly is increasing the oil production of the Niger Delta," Brown said.
"That's why the security arrangements that we're discussing to be done jointly are very important to the future not just of Nigeria and peace there but also to the world energy market."
The Nigerian leader said British help would focus on river and maritime security around the Delta, which is the hub of Nigeria's multi-billion-dollar oil and gas industry.
Yar'Adua added that he had asked Brown to lead a campaign at the United Nations against so-called "blood oil" -- oil stolen in the Delta, which he wants stigmatised in the same way as "blood" diamonds.
"I asked for his support to lead a campaign at the United Nations to track stolen crude and to declare it blood oil just like the Kimberly diamonds so that there is a concerted international effort to ensure that stolen crude is trapped," the president said.
The Kimberly process is a certification scheme introduced in 2003 which requires participants to identify diamonds as conflict-free in origin. (AFP)
Brown said he would "give what support we can" to international efforts on this.
The deprived Niger Delta has been the scene of a low-level insurgency and criminal activity, including kidnapping of oil workers and oil theft, for many years.
Ahead of the talks, Brown said up to 1.5 million barrels of oil a day were lost due to lawlessness in the Delta region.
Unrest in the Delta has reduced Nigeria's oil output by a quarter, causing it to lose its position as Africa's biggest oil producer to Angola, according to April figures from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Several foreign firms, including French tyre company Michelin and oil servicing firm Wilbros, have left the Delta because of security problems.
Brown also announced at the press conference 50 million pounds (63 million euros, 100 million dollars) worth of funding to help tackle malaria in Nigeria.
