New militia is potent force in Nigeria’s oil-rich delta region

A well-organized rebel group has emerged to shut off more than one-fifth of Nigeria’s oil output.

..The MEND organization, whose leadership remains a matter of speculation, appears to be better organized, trained, and equipped than any other group to emerge so far from this restive, swampy region.

“The way [the MEND militiamen] have been able to engage [the Nigerian military] in the last one month or so, the sophistication of firepower, it’s not child’s play,” says Kayode Komolafe, managing editor of Nigeria’s This Day newspaper. “What we have in this place is something aching. If we are not careful it could explode into greater warfare.”

Christian Science Monitor