Nigeria clashes leave a dozen dead

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria – Royal Dutch Shell evacuated staff from two oil installations in southern Nigeria and the military boosted troop levels in the volatile area Tuesday after community clashes left a dozen community chiefs dead, officials said.

Bisi Ojediran, a spokesman for Shell PLC, said only a skeleton crew remained at the two evacuated pipeline hubs in the Niger Delta region, a vast area of mangrove swamps where all of the crude in Africa’s largest producer is pumped.

Production had not been affected by the fighting, which Ojediran characterized as a community fight. He gave no details of how many staff were evacuated.

“This seems to be an inter-community problem and not a direct attack on the oil company by militants,” he said.

AP