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Nigeria: Militant group threatens to attack oil pipelines in 30 days Fri. July 25, 2008 02:44 am.- By Bonny Apunyu. - (SomaliNet) To prove it had not received payment from the Nigerian government to end its campaign, the main militant group in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta has said it would attack major oil pipelines in the next 30 days. The head of the state-run oil firm NNPC was quoted in Nigerian newspapers on Wednesday as saying the company had paid militant groups $12-million (about R88-million) to protect facilities, including the Chanomi creek pipeline, in Delta state. However, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), whose attacks have cut Nigeria's oil output by around a fifth since early 2006, said the money had gone to criminal gangs and that genuine "freedom fighters" could not be bought off. "To prove that we are not a part of this deal, the Chanomi creek pipeline and other major pipelines will be destroyed within the next 30 days," it said. Meanwhile,bomb attacks on pipelines in the delta, the hub of Africa's oil industry, which produces 2-million barrels per day, have disrupted supplies from the world's eighth biggest oil exporter and helped push global energy prices to record highs. Anglo-Dutch giant Royal Dutch Shell, whose facilities have been among the worst hit by Mend's campaign of sabotage, has a pipeline in the Chanomi creek which feeds into the Forcados oil export terminal. The government of President Umaru Yar'Adua is under pressure to pacify the region and has promised to address the root causes of the unrest by bringing much-needed development to its impoverished and polluted villages. Abubakar Yar'Adua, group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), on Tuesday told a parliamentary committee that the company had held talks with the militants and given them money so that it could repair Chanomi. Successive administrations in Nigeria have effectively bought off the leaders of militant groups in the Niger Delta by offering financial rewards for laying down their weapons, a strategy known locally as "settling the boys". But the line between criminality and militancy has become blurred and analysts say the strategy has exacerbated the problem, giving criminal gangs greater leverage and arming fighters with fluctuating allegiances. - Reuters News Category: Africa Latest Headlines Latest News Iraqi: Law maker killed in bomb attack ... Pakistan: Roadside bomb kills 11 in Pakistan US to revise North Korea's terrorism blacklist status... Belgium: 500 kilos of cocaine found in tuna shipment<... Nigeria: Senior official not guilty over $40 million... Ethiopia: 4.6 million Ethiopian now need emergency ... Africa: AU chairman urges world not to cut aid to Af... DR Congo: Gov’t asks UN council to meet on Rwandan i... South Africa: ANC likely to split says leading dissi... Libya cuts oil supplies to Switzerland ... More News...