Five killed in Niger Delta as communities clash over oil

Apr 25, 2007, 16:55 GMT

Abuja - Renewed conflict over the location of an oil well and the employment it was likely to bring, led to the death of five men in the Brass council area of Bayelsa State in Nigeria's Niger Delta on Wednesday.

The conflict began when the Egweama and Liama communities clashed over the location of the oil and the number of people they could each expect to be employed by an oil service company operating in the area, police spokesman Ibokette Iniobong said.

The disputed oil well straddles the two communities.

In February, 11 people were killed in clashes over the issue after youths from Egweama attacked youths in Liama who were accompanying a boat belonging to the oil service company, according to Iniobong.

The deputy governor of Bayelsa State Peremobowei Ebebi visited 31 communities in the oil-rich, but impoverished and troubled area after the February clash.

Iniobong said leaders from both communities were arrested and detained by the police in February for allowing the situation to degenerate into violence in which lives were lost.

At the time, the deputy governor warned then that the full weight of the law would be visited on any communities in the area that ignited trouble again, he added.

'The community leaders were released from detention only a few days ago since their arrest in February and now we have a recurrence of violence on our hands again,' Iniobong noted.

He said security operatives had been dispatched to the area to restore peace.