Tensions Rise Over Detainment of Alleged Nigerian Arms Trafficker

An alleged Nigerian rebel leader has been accused of participating in killings, arms dealing, oil smuggling and other crimes, according to Nigerian Police.^[1]

Henry Okah, the alleged rebel leader, was extradited from Angola to Nigeria a week ago. His detainment has led to increased tension in the anarchic Niger delta, Africa's largest oil producing region.^[2]

Militants who see Okah as a freedom fighter are angry over the government’s persecution of him. This anger has led to violence and has derailed peace talks.^[3]

The Nigerian police maintain that, "Henry Okah ... has been identified as an international gun-runner and a major oil bunkerer." Bunkering is commonly used in Nigeria when referring to oil smuggling.^[4]

Furthermore, Nigerian police stated that Okah was under investigation for financing militant activities in the delta, taking hostages, piracy, killing oil workers and troops, sabotage on the oil industry, bank robberies, theft of arms and promotion of secessionism.^[5]

Okah’s group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), accuses the Nigerian government of killing Okah while he was in detention, a claim that a Nigerian Government spokesman later stated as false.^[6]

No hostages are known to have been killed by MEND. The only two foreign hostages to have been killed in the delta, died in failed rescue attempts by Nigerian troops.^[7]

The arms trafficking charges include allegations that Okah purchased surface-to-air missiles to gain the ability to shoot down aircraft.^[8]

The oil industry in the Niger Delta has been repeatedly attacked by armed groups who continue to press for fairer redistribution of oil wealth to the people of the region.^[9]

A number of armed groups are alleged to have made big profits from oil smuggling and kidnappings in the Delta, while others are rumored to have been armed by politicians seeking to intimidate the population in order to ensure their re-election.^[10]

MEND has been general receptive to the new Government’s development plans, even observing a ceasefire for a few months. However, when Okah was arrested in Angola last September MEND resumed attacks and threats. While attacks by other groups have subsided many people believe there is growing frustration in the Delta.^[11]

According to Oyeinfie Jonjon, "the general feeling among the freedom fighters is that the government does not really want to develop the Niger Delta." Jonjon is one of several influential rebels and activists who stated earlier this month that they would return to peace talks with the government. Jonjon states that he now questions that decision.^[12]

Illicit trafficking of weapons is a trans-national phenomenon. This trade facilitates the spread of criminal activities all over the world and represents a key difficulty to the U.S.-led global war on terror.^[13] Although the United States maintains strict laws against arms trafficking, the lack of a large scale, unified, international legal effort has led to difficulties in differentiate between what is legal and what is not, and how to stop or confine the international arms trade.^[14] The trade in arms continues because arms brokers operate in ways that circumvent national arms controls and international arms embargoes or they obtain official protection for their activities.^[15]

Federal criminal defense attorney Douglas McNabb has written on the U.S. laws surrounding arms trafficking here. The crime of arms trafficking has also been previously discussed here.

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[1] Estelle Shirbon, Nigeria Accuses Oil Delta Rebel Leader of Crimes, Reuters, Feb. 21, 2008 (available at www.reuters.com).
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] Id.
[11] Id.
[12] Id.
[13] Rachel Stohl, Fighting the Illicit Trafficking of Small Arms, SAIS Review, May 13, 2005 (available at http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?DocumentID=2996).
[14] Id.
[15] Id.