Nigeria rebels attack oil pipeline over president's absence in peace talks

Nigerian militants said on Saturday they had carried out their first attack on an oil pipeline since an amnesty offer because the absence of president Umaru Yar'Adua was delaying peace talks.                                           

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said its fighters, armed with rocket launchers and machineguns, carried out a "warning strike" against a Royal Dutch Shell or Chevron pipeline in Abonemma, Rivers state.                                           

A spokesman for the military joint taskforce (JTF), lieutenant colonel Timothy Antigha, said he was making checks and had no immediate comment. There was no independent confirmation of any attack.                                           

MEND accused the government of using the ill-health of Yar'Adua -- who has been in Saudi Arabia for more than three weeks receiving treatment for a heart condition -- to stall promised negotiations.                                           

"While the Nigerian government has conveniently tied the advancement of talks on the demands of this group to a sick president, it has not tied the repair of pipelines, exploitation of oil and gas as well as the deployment and re-tooling of troops in the region to the president's health," it said.                                           

"A situation where the future of the Niger Delta is tied to the health and well-being of one man is unacceptable," it said in an e-mailed statement. The group said it would review an indefinite ceasefire called on October 25 within 30 days.