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Thousands flee Nigerian militants
Thousands of Nigerians have fled the Niger Delta oil town of Bonny after militants threatened to behead people who are not originally from the area.
The unknown group attacked soldiers in the town two weeks ago, killing nine people including a pregnant woman.
According to a newspaper article widely circulated by residents, the militants said they would return on July 16.
Bonny Island is home to a major oil and gas export terminal but production has not been affected.
Meanwhile, a militant attack in the Bonny Island area has left five people dead, the AP news agency reports.
About 30 militants attacked a Navy houseboat and three militants, a navy officer and civilian were killed, said Col Chris Musa.
Panic
In Bonny, youth leader Kingsley Adonis Pepple said people took the militant's threat seriously.
"They were handing out copies of this article to people in the street. There was panic. People packed up their entire family into a boat and fled."
Several boats had capsized and people drowned, he said, although there is no confirmation of this.
Mr Adonis Pepple said he had contacted all the known militant groups in the area and had been assured the article was wrong.
He tried to tell people but they weren't taking any chances, he said.
The article said unnamed sources reported the militants' demand.
"Another source said that the hoodlums, after the face-off with the navy, entered town, shooting and giving ultimatum that all residents of the town who were from other places should leave the town before July 16 or risk being beheaded," the national Nigerian Tribune paper said.
The article was sent to many people in Bonny by family members begging them to get out before the deadline, Mr Adonis Pepple said.
Production resumed
Bonny is a city of over 100,000 people, many of whom work in the oil industry.
The new multi-million dollar Liquefied Natural Gas export terminal is nearby.
Shell announced on Tuesday that a pipeline leading to Bonny Island, attacked by militants two months ago, had been repaired and production resumed.
Militant attacks on oil infrastructure are partly responsible for Nigeria's oil exports being cut by around a quarter in recent years.
Militants have also kidnapped oil workers for ransom.
Some groups are demanding a larger share of the oil wealth, but others are criminal gangs who make a living from extortion and oil theft, Delta activists say. Thousands of Nigerians have fled the Niger Delta oil town of Bonny after militants threatened to behead people who are not originally ... more -
Bosnian Muslims and Croats clash after Euro match
Violence following Turkey's defeat of Croatia in the Euro 2008 quarter-final last night has led to several people being admitted to hospital. Around 1,000 police cordoned off Mostar town centre and used teargas to separate the rival fans, who hurled rocks and bottles at each other. Gunshots and car alarms rang out as fans attacked cars and smashed nearby shop windows.
Many Bosnian Muslims back Turkey in international competitions, an allegiance founded on five centuries of Ottoman rule - whereas Croats regard the Croatian national team as their own. Violence following Turkey's defeat of Croatia in the Euro 2008 quarter-final last night has led to several people being admitted ... more -
Attacks on foreigners spread in S. Africa, immigrants fight back
South Africa's violence against foreigners took a turn for the worse on Wednesday as beleaguered foreign immigrants organized themselves to fight back.
In the Johannesburg township of Tshepisong, Mozambicans and Zimbabwean immigrants fled from gangs of South African residents, while immigrants in other neighborhoods threatened to resist attacks.
"If it means I have to fight back to protect my wife and children and property, I will," a Zimbabwean immigrant named Madalala Ndlovu told the Pretoria Times. "If the police can't stop these thugs, then I will. I'll kill them if I have to."
With community leaders urging against an escalation of violence, the South African government announced that it would start deploying military fixed-wing aircraft and armed personnel carriers to back up police, as the violence entered its 10th day.
"The organization of foreigners is to be expected, given the police's extreme difficulty in getting the violence under control," says Frans Kronje, deputy chairman of the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR), a liberal think tank in Johannesburg.
"Foreigners have three options," says Mr. Kronje. "To go back to Zimbabwe, which is not a nicer option than what they already face here. To get into one of the informal camps around police stations, churches, and community centers, which are already estimated to have 13,000 displaced people in the Johannesburg area alone. Or they can organize to defend themselves, which then makes it much more difficult for the police to control." South Africa's violence against foreigners took a turn for the worse on Wednesday as beleaguered foreign immigrants organized the... more -
India's Neighbourhood Intervention in Madhesh
Positive Indian intervention is necessary in Madhesh, writes KRISHNA HARI PUSHKAR, it happened with the Maoist crisis, too.
International Intervention (II) in resolving conflicts in a given country in not uncommon. Nepal is also not entirely unfamiliar with II, because of the direct or indirect involvement of foreign nations and particularly the UN. In this paper I try to illustrate some indispensable need of Neighbourhood Intervention (NI), meaning Indian intervention (in our case), in the management of conflict in Nepal's Madhesh. Positive Indian intervention is necessary in Madhesh, writes KRISHNA HARI PUSHKAR, it happened with the Maoist crisis, too. ... more -
It is always the children who pay.
Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Sudan, and most recently, Kenya and Chad. With as much civil conflict that is occurring on a single continent, this apathetic world is raising a generation of orphans and broken homes. Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Sudan, and most recently, Kenya and Chad. With as much civil conflict that is occurring on a single cont... more
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Ethnic Conflict
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Ethnic Conflict
