Wednesday, April 16, 2008

LE/Infrastructure

Nigeria: Henry Okah To Have Secret Trial, MEND Vows Retaliation

15 April 2008

IRIN (ABUJA)— In response to the Nigerian government’s decision to hold a secret trial for Henry Okah, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) leaders have said that they will escalate armed conflict. "We have pulled out of any peace talks, we have not disarmed so there really is no progress since Henry's arrest," the spokesman for the MEND, who goes by the name of Jomo Gbomo, wrote in an e-mail to IRIN on 13 April 2008. Gbomo also wrote that militants would target oil installations even if the oil companies repair pipelines. “It only takes a few minutes to destroy what took years to build." Okah’s defense team will challenge the decision of a closed hearing on 22 April. The government’s prosecutor argues that a public trial would be a threat to security.

Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200804150906.html

(Reliability: 8)

No comments: