Militants Threaten Nigeria's Main Oil Pipelines

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Nigerian separatist militants pose in their war boat 24 February 2006 on the Escravos River in...

Nigerian separatist militants pose in their war boat 24 February 2006 on the Escravos River in southern Nigeria. The self-styled Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta has kidnapped nine western oil workers and attacked several oil production facilities operated by the energy giant Shell over the past month. The group is demanding autonomy or independence for the ethnic Ijaw people and control over Nigeria's oil revenue.

(DAVE CLARK/AFP/Getty Images)

Nigeria's main militant group on Wednesday threatened to destroy the nation's major oil pipelines within 30 days to counter allegations it had struck a $12 million deal with the government to protect them.

A spokesman for the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta denied claims it said had been made by the country's petroleum company that the state-run organization was paying militants to protect pipelines. Officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation could not immediately be reached for comment.

"MEND will never sell its birthright for a bowl of porridge when the impoverished masses in the region continue to live in abject poverty," the statement said.

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Militant attacks on Nigeria's oil infrastructure have slashed this west African nation's oil output by almost a quarter in the past two years, helping push world crude prices to historic highs.

The e-mail said profits of the alleged deal were split among military and government officials. The group also said "huge payments" had been made by authorities to criminal gangs in the Niger Delta to protect oil facilities, but those groups were not part of the militant movement.

To prove "we are not a part of this deal, the Chanomi Creek pipeline and other major pipelines will be destroyed within the next 30 days," the militant statement said. Chanomi Creek is located in the western Niger Delta.

Militants say their attacks are aimed at forcing the federal government to send more money to the six states comprising the southern Niger Delta.

Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer and is routinely ranked one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

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