A British newspaper, the Independent on Friday reported that Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government was considering options on his offer of military aid to Nigeria to deal with the crisis in the Niger Delta.

He said, “We stand ready to give help to the Nigerians to deal with lawlessness that exists in this area and to achieve the levels of production that Nigeria is capable of, but because of the law and order problems has not been able to achieve.” Brown’s comments came ahead of next week’s visit to London by President Umaru Yar’Adua, during which he is expected to appeal for military aid to tackle the militancy in the region.

British defence sources told the newspaper that the only realistic option would be to send special forces along with specialised hi-tech equipment to combat the Niger Delta militants. The newspaper said Britain had special forces in Djibouti alongside other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation countries in the Horn of Africa task force involved in missions against Islamist militants. It stated that some of them could be switched from East Africa to West Africa and that it might also be possible to station a Royal Navy warship offshore.

http://www.punchontheweb.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200807122471935

That was exactly what the british did during the Nigerian civil war.

All it would take to re-create a Biafran War situation would be for some other government to take the side of the Niger Delta militants, and then a full blown proxy war would ensue.

Apparently,British defence chiefs are resisting the proposal.

Gordon Brown faces strong resistance to his plan to help Nigeria restore order in its main oil-producing region, with Britain’s defence chiefs fearing it would further stretch their resources.

The UK prime minister, who is to meet Umaru Yar’Adua, the president of Nigeria, in London next week, said he wanted to assist in protecting pipelines and shipping lanes in the Niger Delta.

He is considering offering maritime training for the Nigerian armed forces to make oil installations less vulnerable to looting.

The plans do not include deployment of British troops in significant numbers, but the country’s defence ministry is said to be resistant, warning it might further stretch military resources.

“This idea is not about sending in more troops, but it would still mean gifting the Nigerians with stuff, giving them kit,” said a senior Whitehall official. “As a result there is a bit of a spat going on over what the prime minister wants to give and what the MoD is willing to do.”

Mr Brown believes it is important to shore up security in the region because of the impact of lawlessness on Nigeria’s oil supply. Unrest in the delta has cut its capacity to pump oil by a quarter in recent months, helping to drive up world oil prices.

However, the idea of boosting maritime training for the Nigerian armed forces must overcome several hurdles if it is to be realised, not just the MoD’s resistance.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/90f1d6ee-4f7a-11dd-b050-000077b07658.html

bring them on - we are ready for a full scale nuclear war. Maybe they think this one is iraq , we definately have WMD's

Jakumo:

All it would take to re-create a Biafran War situation would be for some other government to take the side of the Niger Delta militants, and then a full blown proxy war would ensue.

This may be worse than the Biafran war if, the step is taken. Is this the only kind of support the British Government can give to Nigeria?

4 Play:

Mr Brown believes it is important to shore up security in the region because of the impact of lawlessness on Nigeria’s oil supply. Unrest in the delta has cut its capacity to pump oil by a quarter in recent months, helping to drive up world oil prices.

Now I know what they are really interested in

abdurrazaq:

Now I know what they are really interested in

You talk as if there's shame in being interested in the supply of a commodity that is vital to your country's economy.

abdurrazaq:

This may be worse than the Biafran war if, the step is taken. Is this the only kind of support the British Government can give to Nigeria?Now I know what they are really interested in

Would you know any other sort of help the British government could offer Nigeria in this situation?? By the way, I am not even in the UK and I am interested in Nigerian oil.

The UK prime minister, who is to meet Umaru Yar’Adua, the president of Nigeria, in London next week, said he wanted to assist in protecting pipelines and shipping lanes in the Niger Delta.

compare this to this title of this thread? sensationalism at its best

im sure he s joking,so i wont even take it serious and also there has been a massive disagreement in the parliament and some labour backbenchers too generally nobody is paying that much heed to the statement apart from coservative based newspapers like daily mail,independent, where s the money for the millitary option coming from with all the problems he is facing in his backyard not to talk of some rogue states who are only too happy to support anybody or group of peopel as long as they are against britain,especially when it has to do with millitants who have money to pay for their weapons

@tezzapete
Military aid To hell with their interest, what vitality is the commodity offering
the nation anyway?The poor are getting poorer and the rich the enjoy I really
hope Gordon Brown is not gonna do what am thinking and am sure that will not
happen; turning the country into a war zone becos of oil we are surely looking
at another iraq in the making!!! God forbid nigeria wont be next,

dudu19:

@tezzapete
Military aid To hell with their interest, what vitality is the commodity offering
the nation anyway?The poor are getting poorer and the rich the enjoy I really
hope Gordon Brown is not going to do what am thinking and am sure that will not
happen; turning the country into a war zone because of oil we are surely looking
at another iraq in the making!!! God forbid nigeria wont be next,

He is making an offer just as he made one last year offering help to train the Nigerian police force. If the president accepts and war erupts, you seriously will blame Brown?? The country has been a war zone cause of oil for decades now. Are you suggesting that instead of considering options, we should stick with the status quo which is continuing to allow the rich get richer and the poor get poorer??

Look around you, the world needs oil, instead of taking advantage of this huge need to rake in as much as we can for ourselves and build our nation, we are still dealing with a decade old squabble, while 70% of our people continue to wallow in poverty when they could have better. I won't be shocked if China decides to make an offer to help.

Everyone wants petrol

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has said it will take appropriate action if Britain goes ahead with its proposed military support to the Federal Government as a way of ending the Niger Delta crisis.

The militant group, which gave the warning in a statement signed by Jomo Gbomo and sent to Sunday Sun, said its combatants were not also threatened by the presence of Nigerian war ships in the oil region, describing them as "mere ornaments and a shade for the fishes."

The British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, had on Wednesday at the G8 Summit in Japan assured President Umaru Yar’Adua of assistance in tackling the intractable Niger Delta problem.
Brown and Yar’Adua are billed to meet in London next week to discuss the modalities.

MEND, however, said it saw Brown’s statement as an unnecessary intervention and a support for injustice being allegedly perpetrated by the Federal Government in the oil-producing region.
Its immediate reaction was to call off the unilateral ceasefire declared on June 24 from yesterday, warning that UK citizens and interests in Nigeria will suffer the consequences.
The group said it was waiting for Britain to take action before responding.

"…The British government has not taken any action yet. When that time comes, we will follow with the appropriate action. "As far as we are concerned, the warships in the region are mere ornaments and a shade for the fishes. We do not consider them a threat.
"Full-scale hostilities have a way of developing by itself. So we are prepared for it any time it happens," MEND said in the statement.

After the shock attack on the Bonga Oil Field operated by Shell by the militants in June, no fewer than three war ships have been deployed in the region by the military authorities to protect oil installation.
There has also been increased military presence in the area in the last three weeks, with regular helicopter patrols. The military has also vowed to deal decisively with the insurgents if they attempt any further attack on oil installations.

@ Kobojunkie

There is nothing to argue about this, there are no other sides to the situation. From which ever way you look at it, Gordon brown was wrong to offer military help, such an outright tantrum shouldn't come from a statesman and a conservative country like britain for that matter. Yaradua will be retarded to accept such offer and impeachment is waiting for him if he did. If Brown had his history books handy, he would have known that such outburst is an arrogance that glorifies the evil that britain have already committed in our polity.
If you kobojunkie had your history books handy, u would know that no occupation have ever ended in success and that what is happening now is technicaly the prelude to occupation.
Why is it that Bush did not come out blunt as Brown did, simply because Bush knows he has built a reputation of going after oil and he found a good tool and ally in the person of Brown.
Any British invasion of any part of Nigeria will be a call to war and before we all die we will make sure they will never get a drop of our oil. For the Queen not to have called Brown to order is showing that the queen lacks the moral right to lead the commonwealth. Britain's military invasion will cost Britain well over $50 Billion to shoot Niger delta people. How much will it cost Britain to build a world class university and public hospital to appease the people of Niger delta? How much would it cost them to raise up an electricity generating plant in Niger Delta? How much will it cost them to offer 1000 Niger Delta students scholarship yearly? Don't you think that this is the kind of offer Britain should be making to them before they even think of training Nigeria military to fight them let alone occupation?
You may not be in Nigeria but you definitely do have family there, such good you are seeing in this offer may just be what will take us back to 18th century.

blacksta:

bring them on - we are ready for a full scale nuclear war. Maybe they think this one is iraq , we definately have WMD's

I fear the tone in your words, you sound like one of the Militants.pls, pardon me, just kidding. let us look at the two sides of it. if they can really help without eyeing the oil in the region. i think nothing is wrong with it. Haba!

The same thing they did with Biafrans during our war of survival against the Nigerian government. The last time I checked it was some non-Igbo Niger-delta leaders and even some Igbos Niger-deltans and the ones from non-Niger Delta area like Saro Wiwa, Adaka Boro, Elechi Amadi etc. that supported British genocide against the own region and people just because of their rabid unjustifiable hatred towards the majority Igbos and Biafra. Its crazy how these men blinded stupidly by hate sold off their own region just to get smacked silly by the same people who they called friends. Britain and Nigeria.

nobilia:

@ Kobojunkie
There is nothing to argue about this, there are no other sides to the situation. From which ever way you look at it, Gordon brown was wrong to offer military help, such an outright tantrum shouldn't come from a statesman and a conservative country like britain for that matter. Yaradua will be retarded to accept such offer and impeachment is waiting for him if he did. If Brown had his history books handy, he would have known that such outburst is an arrogance that glorifies the evil that britain have already committed in our polity.

All brown has done is make an offer to help with assistance. He has yet to tell exactly what that assistance would be at this point. Yar adua has yet to accomplish much in that country. The gutless people have yet to move for his impeachment but because he may be considering an alliance with Britain to help squelch the problem in the Niger Delta (a problem we have not been able to solve on our own for over a decade) you suddenly feel he should be impeached?? ROFLMAO!!!

nobilia:

If you kobojunkie had your history books handy, u would know that no occupation have ever ended in success and that what is happening now is technicaly the prelude to occupation.

Here is the problem I have with this HISTORY angle you are quick to rush out with, the British have mentioned invading or anything of the sort in this. All these conclusions that have been drawn by most all in here are based on assumptions and nothing more. I know the history you speak of but I fail to see how that ties to this.

nobilia:

Why is it that Bush did not come out blunt as Brown did, simply because Bush knows he has built a reputation of going after oil and he found a good tool and ally in the person of Brown?

[/quote]

You mean the British cannot act without the blessings of Bush? Since when died Bush become the British Overlord when it comes to international issues?? What has British decision here to do with Bush? From the Start, Brown has made offers to Yar Adua and this is just another one of those. It is up to Yar Adua to decide which to accept.

nobilia:

Any British invasion of any part of Nigeria will be a call to war and before we all die we will make sure they will never get a drop of our oil. For the Queen not to have called Brown to order is showing that the queen lacks the moral right to lead the commonwealth. Britain's military invasion will cost Britain well over $50 Billion to shoot Niger delta people. How much will it cost Britain to build a world class university and public hospital to appease the people of Niger delta?

Osanobua ooooo!! What British Invasion are you speaking of?? Is that what Brown is offering or is that what your mind has concluded will be? Has the British government actually indicated it is working on invading the Niger Delta? Is it the job of the British to build a world class University or public Hospital in your own country for your own people? Your own government does not seem to think you worthy of such. In fact, the current president chose to get his health issues taken care of, for over 8 years as a leader, outside of the country rather than erect hospitals of the same caliber right there for you and your family to have access to. Why try to push this responsibility onto the British when this is just an offer of assistance to your government in fighting a war it does not seem capable of handling on its own?
I hate the way we continue to throw excuses at every sign of change that comes our way. Sure we had a crappy history but 99.9% of the mistakes have been our own fault, not of the British or any other people’s fault but ours.
[quote author=nobilia link=topic=150583.msg2499319#msg2499319 date=1215931079]
How much would it cost them to raise up an electricity generating plant in Niger Delta?

Is putting up an electricity generating plant in the Niger Delta the job of the British government or the Nigerian Government? Your own government did not choose that as the solution and you want to lay that burden on the British Government for simply indicating it is ready to help your government in this?

nobilia:

How much will it cost them to offer 1000 Niger Delta students scholarship yearly?

Why not ask your government these questions?? Why place this on the British government? If your own government does not believe you are even worth this, why put this on some other people’s government?? Why not attack your own with this??
Consider how much money comes each year from the British people to your country in the form of AID. The money could have been used by your own to put up these and more If it really believed you were worth all that but since it does not, why do you feel the burden should be on the British government to help put this in place when it already dispatches millions in to do.

nobilia:

Don't you think that this is the kind of offer Britain should be making to them before they even think of training Nigeria military to fight them let alone occupation?

No, I don’t. Nigeria has enough money to handle all these issues if it really wanted to. If the leaders you have chosen over the last decade really believe these were solutions and were willing, they would have easily solved these issues in no time but at this time, you present government has chosen to fight the terrorists and all the British has done is offer assistance to help in whatever path the Nigerian government chooses to go with this. Why place this burden on the British Government when it is not their place to decide but all that is being done here is offer assistance which can always be denied??

nobilia:

You may not be in Nigeria but you definitely do have family there, such good you are seeing in this offer may just be what will take us back to 18th century.

Well… such good could also help usher us into the 21st century, something we all want. Here is the problem I have with your line of argument. You seem to want to conclude this is bad and put the blame on the British government when all it is doing is making an offer. The same government, last year, made an offer to help train our police; I believe that plan is still on hold. Are we better off today? Do we have a better police force today without that training? NO. Could that training be what we need to help us build a better force to better help that nation? I am open and I hope we start accepting meaningful help from the outside world so we do not have to continue a single day longer in this stupidity.
Yaradua has been president over a year now, not much has changed and we certainly are not enjoying even 4 months worth of progress with his administration. His being on the seat has been nothing to write home about. He made the decision to go to war with the deltans, not the British. If you have not at this point realized that impeachment talks are long overdue, but suddenly believe this should be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for you, then may I suggest that you take another look at your assessment of the issue and really figure out if it is in the interest of the Nigerian people or just cause of some bias which you hold against the British in this. Assume it was Ghana that made the offer, would you have felt better??

We’re ready for Britain

@Sly whats that red piece?part of the unifrom too?

ifyalways:

@Sly whats that red piece?part of the unifrom too?

Its a Natural Bulletproof . . . . . . In other words, They also call it ODESHI
Thats what these white people doesn't know. . . . . . .You shoot them,It would bounce back to the sender!

lol
i do hope they wont get dissappointed. wish them luck for moi

its funny britain/brown are offering to kit the nigerian armed forces considering just a couple of months ago,the mod were under serious attack for not providing correct safety equipments to british forces in iraq resulting in the deaths of some of them,fair enough they have to do something because the niger delta issue is a world issue,but wouldnt it have been far better to caution shell a british company about buying weapons for the nigerian police to kill niger deltans?wouldnt it have been better for gordon brown to caution them about bribing a few traditional rulers,governors instead of doing what they pledged which is cleaning their pollution mess up,setting up hospitals,schools,housing and compensation for landowners where they are drilling?

after all they do same in other countries they are drilling from so why is the niger delta diffrent, i was watching a lifestyle/current affairs programme on channel 5(british morning programme)and one of the headline news they mentioned was brown's offer to kit the nigerian millitary,most of the white guys there just laughed and asked what it was all about,as he was being given the short version of the whole thing,the next thing they all did was laugh and dismissed the niger delta thing as them being ridiculous for thinking shell and others did anything wrong,so u can imagine if an average briton though that way,what would the main actor's mindset be,
we know whats happening,hand of esau,voice of jacob, the dumbo gordon brown has not sorted out the mess tony blair left him,he s replaced tony blair as george bush's ass licker doing his bidding

ifyalways:

lol
i do hope they wont get dissappointed. wish them luck for moi

I have confidence in them. . . . . . They are gonna do just fine.
I wish i could join them too. . . . . . .But unfortunately!

THIS IS GOOD AID

A British man is appealing against a conviction in Ghana for indecently assaulting a three-year-old girl.

Thomas Tichler, 57, a retired banker from Hertfordshire, was jailed for two years in February.

The charity Fair Trials International has disputed the medical evidence used to convict him and says the girl was too young to give evidence.

The appeal court, sitting in Accra, is reserving judgement on the case until later this year.

Medical evidence

The case stems from an invitation accepted last year by Tichler, who was in Ghana at the time volunteering for a charity.

He was invited to a local man's house, where he was left to play with the family's children.

When the family's three-year-old daughter went to the toilet, her mother found blood in the little girl's urine and her underwear.

Tichler was convicted of indecently assaulting the girl and causing her harm and sentenced to two years for each offence, to run concurrently.

His defence team says the blood could have been the result of innocent horseplay, as Tichler lifted the girl onto his shoulders.

It says the medical evidence presented by the prosecution could equally support its explanation of what happened. This was hyped up by politicians, including the attorney general, who in Ghana is also the justice minister

Sabine Zanker
Fair Trials International
Defence lawyers argue the girl's testimony in court was an important factor in Tichler's conviction and are concerned that she may have been too young for her evidence to have been relied upon.

Joe Stone, a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, has been advising the Tichler family on their appeal.

He said: "[Children] start speaking at two and being able to articulate with something as sensitive as this, there really is some concern as to whether the child understands what is being said."

Child's evidence

The Ghanaian legal system is based upon the English courts, which is a legacy of its colonial past.

When children give evidence in courts in England and Wales, the judge has to determine whether the child understands the questions put to them and whether the answers they give are comprehensible.

"That two-part competency test, which is standard and mandatory here didn't take place," Mr Stone said.

"I think the judge asked whether the child understood the importance of telling truth and lies but there was no further investigation into the child."

My own view is that you've at least as much chance of a fair trial in Ghana as you would have in the UK

Craig Murray
Former UK diplomat
The London-based charity Fair Trials International has taken on Tichler's case.

The head of the legal team, Sabine Zanker, is worried about political interference.

She said: "This was hyped up by politicians, including the attorney general, who in Ghana is also the justice minister.

"When Tom was initially charged with a lesser offence, he went public and said it was very important to protect Ghanaian children from white paedophiles and he thought he should be charged with a much more serious offence."

'Fair hearing'

Craig Murray, a former diplomat who was deputy high commissioner to Ghana, says he does not know of a single incident involving a British national where there was reason to suspect they had not received a fair hearing.

"My own view is that you've at least as much chance of a fair trial in Ghana as you would have in the UK," he said.

Two of Mr Tichler's sons have been in Accra to see their father's appeal.

The eldest, James, insists his father is innocent.

"He's certainly never displayed any behaviour like what he's been accused of towards me or my brothers," he said.

"I don't think I'll accept that he's guilty unless he came and told me he was."

The attorney general of Ghana, Joe Ghartey, told the BBC that he could not comment directly on the case.

He said the country had a very independent judiciary and that any comments he made would not have made any difference to the outcome of the trial.

His team has been appealing for a longer prison sentence for Tichler, arguing that the circumstances of the case do not support the length of the sentence originally handed down by the judge.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7505305.stm