23 dead in 2 bombings in Algeria

By AOMAR OUALI, Associated Press Writer

Bombs heavily damaged the prime minister's office and a police station Wednesday, killing at least 23 people and wounding about 160, the country's official news agency said. Al-Qaida's wing in North Africa claimed responsibility.

Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem, who was unhurt, called the attack a "cowardly, criminal terrorist act" as he spoke to reporters outside his wrecked offices.

The attacks were a devastating setback for the North African nation's efforts to close the chapter on its Islamic insurgency that has killed 200,000 people. After years of relative calm, the al-Qaida affiliate recently has recently waged several smaller attacks in the oil- and gas-rich nation.

According to Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera, a spokesman for al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying they were carried out by three suicide bombers in trucks packed with explosives. The spokesman said the bombers targeted three sites: the government headquarters in Algiers and the Interpol offices and a special police forces building in the suburb of Bab Ezzouar.

Belkhadem declined to say how many had been killed or wounded. The official APS agency said at least 23 people were killed and 160 wounded in the two attacks, but gave no breakdown. The other bombing targeted the police station of Bab Ezzouar, east of the capital, Algiers, on the road to its airport.

Witnesses said at least one of the attacks appeared to have been a car bomb.

A charred, wrecked car lay on the pavement about 98 feet from the gates of the government building — a modern white, block-like high-rise that also houses the Interior Ministry.

On Tuesday in neighboring Morocco, police surrounded a building in Casablanca where four terrorism suspects were holed up, causing three to flee and blow themselves up with explosives. The fourth was shot to death by a police sharpshooter as he apparently tried to detonate his bomb. A police officer was killed and 10 people, including a young child and a policeman, suffered injuries.

Since five suicide bombings that killed 45 people in Morocco in May 2003, police have pursued an unprecedented crackdown on suspected militants, arresting thousands of people, including some accused of working with al-Qaida and its affiliates to plot attacks in Morocco and abroad.

Algeria's insurgency broke out in 1992, after the army canceled legislative elections that an Islamic party appeared set to win.

Since then, violence related to the insurgency has left an estimated 200,000 dead — civilians, soldiers and Islamic fighters — according to the government.

Military crackdowns and amnesty offers had turned them into a ragtag assembly of fighters in rural hideouts, and for several years, the government appeared to have them basically under control.

Algeria's main militant group recently changed its name to Al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa and began targeting foreigners — signs that the country's dwindling ranks of Islamic fighters were regrouping.

The latest attacks, especially on Belkhadem's office, showed that the militants are far from beaten, even though experts say that they number perhaps no more than several hundred people.

Belkhadem expressed bitterness at insurgents who refused the amnesty offers.

"The Algerian people stretched out a hand to them, and they respond with a terrorist act," he said.

Al-Jazeera said its office in Rabat, Morocco, received a telephone call from a spokesman for al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa, identified as Abu Mohammed Salah, who claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The caller said that the explosions were carried out by three al-Qaeda members in trucks "filled" with explosives. His claims could not be independently confirmed.

"We won't rest until every inch of Islamic land is liberated from foreign forces," the spokesman said in a recording of the phone call played on Al-Jazeera.

On an Islamic militant Web site, the group showed pictures of the three suicide bombers who allegedly carried out the attack, codenamed the "Badr Raid," after a famed 7th century battle by the Prophet Muhammad and the first Muslims against his opponents, according to Al-Jazeera and the SITE Institute, a U.S. group that monitors militants' messages.

In the photos, provided by the SITE Institute, each bomber — identified as Muadh bin Jabal, al-Zubair Abu Sajda and Abu Dajjana — was shown sitting with automatic rifles propped on the wall on either side of him. Abu Sajda and Abu Dajjana had green scarves covering their faces, showing only their eyes. Abu Sajda and bin Jabal were wearing suicide vests.

Fayza Kebdi, a lawyer who works in an office opposite the government building, said the blast, about 10:45 a.m. local time, shattered her windows and blew her husband clear across the room.

"We thought the years of terrorism were over," she said. "We thought that everything was back to normal. But now, the fear is coming back."

The attacks were the deadliest to hit the Algiers region since 2002, when a bomb in a market in a suburb killed 38 people and injured 80.

Police cordoned off stairs leading up to the government building with orange police tape, and paramedics raced up the steps with stretchers. Paramedics escorted a man with blood on his head into an ambulance. Another woman, looking dazed and in tears, was checked for head injuries.

A March 3 bombing of a bus carrying workers for a Russian company killed a Russian engineer and three Algerians. A December attack near Algiers and targeting a bus carrying foreign employees of an affiliate of Halliburton killed an Algerian and a Lebanese citizen.

Al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa — the new name for the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, known by its French abbreviation GSPC — claimed responsibility for both attacks.

Taliban nets millions from poppy harvests

By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer

When the Taliban ordered Afghanistan's fields cleared of opium poppies seven years ago because of Islam's ban on drugs, fearful farmers complied en masse.

Today, officials say the militia nets tens of millions by forcing farmers to plant poppies and taxing the harvest, driving the country's skyrocketing opium production to fund the fight against what they consider an even greater evil — U.S. and NATO troops.

"Drugs are bad. The Quran is very clear about it," said Gafus Scheltem, NATO's political adviser in southern Afghanistan. But to fight the enemy, he said, "all things are allowed. They need money and the only way they can get money is from Arabs that support them in the (Persian) Gulf, or poppies."

Corrupt government officials, both low-level police and high-level leaders, also protect the drug trade in exchange for bribes, a recent U.N. report found. Warlords and major landowners welcome the instability the Taliban brings to the country's southern regions, causing poppy eradication efforts to fail.

The Taliban denies it supports poppies. Mullah Abdul Qassim, a top commander in Helmand province, told The Associated Press last month that the militia's goal is to defeat foreign troops and it doesn't have time to regulate poppies. He noted that the militia virtually eliminated poppies after leader Mullah Omar banned them in July 2000.

Diplomats at the time believed the Taliban, pariahs because of their violations of human rights standards, was seeking international respectability and financial aid. Washington sent $43 million in emergency funds to Afghanistan after poppy growing was banned.

But Western officials say it appears the ban was meant at least in part to increase the price of opium stockpiles.

"Originally they said 'It's bad for you, it's against Islam,' but when they realized how much money they could make off of it they said it was OK to grow but not consume it. That's the hypocrisy of it," said Spc. Zach Khan, a cultural adviser in the U.S. Army who was born in Pakistan and lives in Nashville, Tenn.

The Taliban is also telling farmers in the south they must grow poppies but if the militia returns to power, the plants will once again be outlawed, said a Western official familiar with Afghanistan's drug trade who asked not to be identified because of the nature of his job.

Afghanistan's opium crop grew 59 percent in 2006 to 407,000 acres, yielding a record crop of 6,100 tons, enough to make 610 tons of heroin — 90 percent of the world's supply, according to the U.N. Western and Afghan officials say they expect a similar crop this year.

The street value of the heroin was estimated at $3.5 billion, said Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. Of that, Afghan farmers earned an estimated $700 million last year, while the bulk of the rest went to traffickers who smuggled the drugs to the Middle East and Europe.

No one knows the Taliban's exact take from poppy cultivation, and guesses range from the low tens of millions of dollars to an estimate of $140 million by Gen. Khodaidad, Afghanistan's deputy minister for counter-narcotics. His figure was based on various Taliban taxes that could add up to 20 percent of the farmers' $700 million.

The Taliban uses the money to buy weapons and pay soldiers, and as one Western official put it: "You can buy quite a bit of insurgency for $10 million."

In Helmand province — the Taliban's main stronghold — poppy farmer Karimullah Khan said the traditional religious tax, called an oshar, used to be paid to religious leaders. Now, he said, "If the government is weak in some districts, and the Taliban is stronger, we give the oshar to the Taliban."

For farmers, poppies pay up to 10 times as much as wheat. Militants protect the poppy fields, and corrupt government officials are paid to turn a blind eye.

"The Taliban need the money and the narco-traffickers need the instability. In chaos, there's profit," U.S. Army Lt. Col. Brian Mennes said during a recent mission in southern Afghanistan.

The Taliban takes a cut all along the way — a percentage at harvest, at heroin labs, and to ensure the crop's passage through dangerous lands, said Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.

"Now if you put all these percentages together, out of an opium economy of about $3.5 billion, you get a significant amount of money which could be potentially seen as the funding of terrorism," Costa said last month.

Of five poppy farmers in southern Afghanistan that spoke to The Associated Press, three paid bribes to the Taliban and to local police, who work for the Afghan Interior Ministry, which a U.N. report said has many officials involved in the drug trade.

Some farmers paid in opium, others in cash. Two farmers who live in more secure areas paid local clerics a 10 percent religious tax.

The mountain town of Chinar straddles the Kandahar-Helmand border and is anchored by a large, mud-brick compound housing district police headquarters. Twenty yards away sits a large field of flourishing poppies, with other fields all around. Khan said most farmers are forced to grow the crop by the Taliban — but the police are also implicated.

Capt. Said Farad, an Afghan army commander based just outside the town on a recent NATO operation, said the district chief in the region has to cooperate with the Taliban or face death. The last three chiefs sent here by the governor were killed, he said.

"The police definitely have a hand in the poppies. Those two police vehicles near the compound help with the drug smuggling and run supplies for the Taliban," Farad said. "Nobody will kill the current chief because he has a deal with the Taliban."

At a recent council of elders put together by U.S. forces operating around Chinar, a man with a black turban and gray beard defended the residents.

"The only problem with these people is poverty. Whatever they're doing they're doing out of poverty," he said.

Farid Jan, a poppy farmer in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar, said he pays 10 percent of his crop to the Taliban and negotiates a separate percentage for police.

Last year, a pound of opium fetched up to $100 in the province, though less in other areas, the U.N. said. This year, Jan expects to earn $130,000 — before "taxes" — on his land, 10 times what he would make from wheat.

"Now you tell me what's the best crop for us?" he said.

Oil Gunmen in the Niger Delta! Criminals? Terrorists? Or Activists?

By Paul Abojeh

Located in the tropic of Cancer, Nigeria stretches from latitude 40N to latitude 140N. The Southern part of the country, being so close to the Equator is characterized by the peculiar climatic conditions: high temperatures, high precipitation (mostly rainfall), etc. The rainfall in this region is virtually all year round measuring around 1500mm and above, annually. On the southern border of Nigeria, is the Atlantic Ocean. One of Africa’s paramount rivers, the river Niger, flows into Nigeria and has as it’s main tributary, the river Benue (an equally large river) joining it in Lokoja. This voluminous river hereafter flows down south into the Atlantic.

Now, considering this amount of hydro reception all year round, it is definitely not difficult to envision the topography of this region.

The vegetation is mostly populated with very tall evergreen trees, because of the abundance of water. The plenitude of water has also caused a lot of adverse effects. Most of the lands have been washed away resulting in massive and devastating gully erosions. The people are left to survive mainly on water, thus the main occupation is fishing and a little bit of farming, mostly on a subsistence scale.

Talk of poverty; you have it here, embodied.

This is indisputably Nigeria’s poorest region but, ironically, this is where Nigeria survives, from. This is the Niger Delta!

The word "Niger Delta" as related to Nigeria has generated into a case of not only national but also international concern. It conjures a picture of civil unrest, poverty, frustration, and most of all, violence. All of these social evils result from the presence of huge reserves of crude oil, one of the largest on the planet; Nigeria being the largest producer in Africa and the sixth largest exporter of petroleum in the world, earning about $3billion a month. These figures sure ring a bell considering the gross case of poverty in Nigeria. What's happening to all these money and why the poverty and violence in the Niger Delta?

The story of the degrading situation in the Niger Delta began with the discovery of Crude Oil in 1956 in Oloibiri, Bayelsa state of Nigeria. Mining did not start however until 1963. Nigeria had just gotten independence from British colonialism three years before and was governed by a kind of parliamentary government. This government did not mature, as there was a military coup in 1963. Until 1999 when democracy began, the military had ruled the country with about two cases of civilian rule intersecting. Nigeria existed as four distinct regions; the northern, eastern, western and mid-western regions. The mid-western region had been created from the western region in the same 1963. It is the mid-western region that largely forms the Niger Delta. With the creation of states (first 12, then 19, 21, 30 and currently, 36) however, the Niger Delta now covers nine states namely: Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers states.

Allocation of financial revenue was fair. Individual regions got an extra percentage of the revenue generated from local products. That is to say the northern region for instance, known for vast production of groundnut got about 45% of the country's income on groundnut. The same applied to the eastern and western region where oil palm and cocoa were produced respectively. The federal government received the remaining 55%. Agriculture was the main stay of the economy and still contributes-albeit little, as compared to crude oil. After its creation the mid-west enjoyed this same revenue allocation, its main product being crude oil. This allocation was besides the national budget.

Unfortunately, the civil war broke out in Nigeria in 1977. This caused the federal government to suspend the 45% revenue allocation to the eastern and mid western regions, since these were the bases for the rebel group, Biafra. Thus the big problem began.

The war ended in 1970 and things did not go back to normal as expected. Crude oil mining continued but the revenue allocation did not.

The situation of things in the Niger Delta began to deteriorate rapidly as crude oil exploration increased to meet the growing demand of oil locally, but mostly internationally. Being a quick way of generating money, the Nigerian government concentrated its attention onto oil production leaving agriculture and other sectors to dwindle away. As a result of the massive reserve of oil in the Niger Delta the locals were being forced by the federal government to leave their homes-without an alternative or compensation-, so as to provide more space for the growth of the oil industry. Strange as it may seem, these people were left with nothing and if ever there was any compensation, it was absolutely negligible. Then there was a 1779 constitutional addition, which gave the federal government universal ownership and rights to all Nigerian territory. This also included natural resources. If there was any compensation for land, it was based on the value of crops on the land at the time of acquisition, not on the value of the land itself. The federal government obviously wanted to justify its actions. This is the kind of treatment obtainable, in a country where human rights means nothing unless you were are from the ruling or elite class.

It was difficult for the Niger Delta people to carryout a collective protest to alleviate their plight. The region had been plagued by decades of ethnic and communal conflicts over land and available resources. These became worsened with the discovery of crude oil. Comprising some 20 million people, belonging to over 40 ethnic groups and speaking around 250 dialects, it is pretty difficult to form any kind of unison. This may look strange but Nigeria has around 400 "known" ethnic groups. Even within a state the discrimination between ethnic groups can be so great that neighbouring ethnic groups are treated like aliens, regardless of the similarities in dialects and culture. Sometimes one wonders however this country was successfully created. Oil exploration mostly affected the more riverine communities like the Ijaws, the Itsekiris, the Ogonis, etc, the Ijaws being the majority. These ethnic groups are located in Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, and Edo states. The Ijaws however, spread throughout the coast of Nigeria, including Lagos state.

In the early 90s however Ken Saro-wiwa alongside a number of educated elites and chiefs all Ogonis, founded The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). Their cause was to make known the plight of the Ogonis (though a minority), whose lands were being degraded as a result of oil production, by companies: Royal Dutch Shell, Cheveron, Texaco, Mobil, etc. Shell’s activities were most prominent. The living condition deteriorated so much. Oil spillage polluted most of the available land, contaminated the rivers, caused massive destruction of fish and crippled their farming. Water was obtained from very muddy water holes as there was no available pipe borne water, no electricity supply, schools, good motorable roads, hospitals and various basic ameties were things of imagination. The people lived in penury, abandoned to disease and poverty.

The intention of MOSOP was to ensure through dialogue that the Ogonis were given their due cultural rights, enjoyed social services, gained government recognition and enjoyed a fair share of the revenue being generated from their lands. Unfortunately the pleas of MOSOP fell on deaf ears as the federal government showed no concern. When it became obvious that they were making no headway, the Ogonis turned their struggle onto the oil companies operating in the area-Shell in particular-demanding compensation, damages and accumulated royalties to the tune of $10 billion. They threatened to disrupt the operations of the oil companies if they failed to comply with these as well as negotiations for mutual agreement on future drilling.

The federal government reacted to this by banning public gatherings but in spite of the ban, MOSOP went ahead to conduct an enormous public mobilization on the 4th of January 1993, gathering around 300,000 people in massive festivities, an event called the first Ogoni Day. The mobilization continued over the next month but some members of the Ogonis began to engage in violent acts as opposed their nonviolent approach. An Ogoni mob had beaten one Shell employee. Shell consequently withdrew its employees from Ogoniland an action which caused a remarkable decline in oil production. The federal government reacted to this by deploying military troops into Ogoniland. The result of this was severe opression of the Ogonis by military men.

By May 1994 more military men had been deployed to Ogoni villages. On May 21 four Ogoni chiefs (all on the conservative side of a schism within MOSOP over strategy) were brutally murdered. The murders were blamed on Ken Saro-Wiwa who strangely enough was denied entry into Ogoniland that same day. Also blamed were eight other prominent activists of MOSOP. By June, a lot of villages had been burnt down, farmland and livestock destroyed, with Ogoni women and girls being threatened with rape by military men. An alarming 2000 civilians died during this period of military occupation.

On 10 November 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa and the other eight activists, popularly referred to as the "Ogoni Nine", were hanged much to the chagrin of the international community. Their trial was manipulated. The members of the tribunal were hand-picked, and bribed witnesses testified against the Ogoni Nine. This happened during the regime of General Sani Abacha, whose relationship with the international community had deteriorated extensively, largely as a result of human rights disregard. The Commonwealth of Nations responded to the executions by suspending Nigeria's membership.

The tension in the Niger Delta gradually subsided and the advent of democracy, restored relative ease. So much expectation surrounded the new democratic government, the Niger Delta people in particular considered it as a solution to all their problems. What else could be expected when the Obasanjo-led democracy made mouth-watering promises of better life to all Nigerians? The Creation of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC) in 2000 was seen as a perfect answer to the situation. The NNDC, funded by the oil companies and Nigeria's federal government receives a total of $235 million to spend every year, a sum considered as peanuts compared to the problems in the Niger Delta.

Violence however resurfaced in 2004, this time by the Ijaws, the majority ethnic group in the Niger Delta, under the leadership of Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari a university drop-out and popularly identified as Asari. Asari Dokubo is a self styled activist, employing violence, threats and force as his own way of asserting the rights of the people of the Niger Delta who have long been marginalized by successive military regimes and now by the non productive democracy. Apparently, using the failure of the nonviolent method employed by Ken Saro-Wiwa and MOSOP as a yardstick to justify his violent approach, Asari and his Niger Delta People's Volunteeer Force (NDPVF which he heads) seeks to bring about the independence of the Niger Delta people from the Nigerian state, and become solely responsible for the control of the oil resources which is regarded as their rightful possession.

Asari Dokubo a former leader of the Ijaw Youth Council formed the NDPVF, the largest armed militant group in the region and responsible for much of the unrest in the Niger Delta. The NDPVF whose members are mostly Ijaws has also been engaged in armed conflict with the Niger Delta Vigilante (NDV also largely numbered by Ijaws), another militant group headed by Akeke Tom. These two are probably the most pronounced militant groups in the region. Smaller militias form alliance with the NDPVF or the NDV.

The NDPVF attempts to control oil resources by tapping pipelines and extracting it into a barge, which is then sold abroad but usually to neighbouring West African countries. This act known as Bunkering is considered is considered a serious crime by the Nigerian state, but justified by the militias giving their long exploitation as their basis.

The NDPVF was believed to be funded by Peter Odili, the present governor of Rivers state of Nigeria. But after Asari publicly criticized the April 2003 polls, describing it as fraudulent, he fell off favour with Peter Odili who then was campaigning for a second tenure. Odili turned his attention to the NDV and effectively launched a paramilitary campaign against the NDVPF. This infuriated and yet emboldened Asari who declared an all-out war with the Nigerian state as well as the oil corporations and threatened to disrupt oil production activities by attacking oil wells and pipelines. As a result of this threat, Shell withdrew 235 of its non-essential personnel form the oil fields. This subsequently caused a decline in oil production.

Asari was arrested in 2005; NDPVF members went under intense armed confrontation with the Nigerian military after President Olusegun Obasanjo launched a mission to wipe out NDPVF in early September of the same year. The Nigerian military were assisted by the NDV in fighting the NDPVF, a crisis that resembled the Ogoni saga about three years before.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), is the newest and perhaps most deadly militia in the Niger Delta. Believed to have ties with NDPVF (some members of the NDPVF have purportedly joined MEND). MEND operates in a fashion peculiar to terrorists, mostly hostage taking, carrying out destructive actions and claiming responsibility, etc. No case of suicide bombing though. Unlike the previous militant groups involved in acts of bunkering, MEND seems to be reacting, to the long period of neglect and frustration suffered by the Niger Delta people. Even the current democratic government has done little to alleviate their plight.

MEND's identity and history is unknown since its leaders prefer to remain anonymous. It is clandestine in nature. The main visible figure is known as Major General Tamuno Goodswill, the Field Officer Commanding (FOC). MEND's cause appears to be well calculated and planned. Operating with quite sophisticated methods, their recent actions beginning last year have primarily been hostage taking, the victims are usually foreign expatriates and the military men who guard them; ransom is being demanded for their release. Presently, MEND has called for the unconditional release of Asari Dokubo who was jailed for treason but regarded by the locals as a hero for standing up to the federal government, and Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, the former governor of Bayelsa state, charged with corruption and money laundering. MEND's threats are more deliberate, and their activities more tactical than the previous militias. One of their stated aims is to completely destroy the Nigerian government's capacity to export oil. Also, they intend to localize control of Nigeria's oil. In late April 2005 a car bomb was triggered in Warri in Delta state at an oil-truck shop. The bomb was activated by a cell phone and was partly a warning to the Chinese government (who recently showed interest in Nigeria's oil industry), to stay away. In December last year, another cell phone activated bomb was used to destroy the residential staff quarters occupied by Shell employees. MEND reportedly seeks to unite all relevant militant groups in the Niger Delta.

Even though unknown, it is generally believed that MEND's leaders are most likely prominent politicians and elite citizens who have personal interests in the nation’s oil wealth. These too are responsible for funding the militant group. It is also alleged that all MEND's leaders may not likely be indigenes of the Niger Delta but could come from any part of the country. MEND's existence is thus believed to be some kind of political manipulation.

The commotions in the Niger Delta and the resulting poverty are a reflection of the level of corruption in Nigeria. The country is being ruled by individuals who seek personal benefits from oil wealth rather than the interest of the populace. The truth remains that the Niger Delta people have long been treated as though they weren't Nigerians at all. No matter how bad the actions of the militants may seem, one fact still stands unchanged- "WE GAVE THEM REASON TO ACT IN THE WAY THEY DO NOW." The long military rule may be considered incapable, but the present democratic government has done very little in the past eight years. This is a clear indication of the government’s incapability to recognize the seriousness of issues and act swiftly and efficiently. Currently the Niger Delta states receive 18% of revenue generated from oil. This is aside the national budget yet the effect of this money is not seen. State governors are being accused of siphoning the money and using it to generate personal profits. Though internal corruption in the Niger Delta has also been a serious problem, almost nothing is done about it. There is gradual development going on in the Niger Delta but projects are undertaken at such a snail-like speed that generates uncertainty.

As we approach the next general elections there is quite a degree of tension. Most Nigerians already foresee a shady electoral process. The issue of the Niger Delta is generating fear. It has become the major topic of most television talk programmes. We are at the brink of a situation that might end up in another civil war if not properly handled. Funny as this may seem, the Niger Delta people's plight became known only when the militants took to arms. So many situations in Nigeria gained government recognition only when they became violent. A lot of unanswered questions loom in the mind of concerned Nigerians: Could we have prevented all these? Would there be an end to Nigerians corruption? What could MEND be up to? Why were the Niger Delta people treated so badly in the first place? If Ken Saro-Wiwa had been taken seriously, would all these have happened?

A lot of armed militant groups have sprung up in the Niger Delta but many of them are small gangs engaged in bunkering and the likes. Some of them have claimed to be MEND, taking up MEND's cause but the real MEND still remains distinct in their operations. To think of the kind of ammunition in MEND's possession makes you wonder where all these is leading and how these weapons were smuggled into the country in the first place, especially now that the country's customs wing is almost fully operational. But while Oil Gunmen-the militants in the Niger Delta are being considered as criminals, and MEND, a terrorist group, they enjoy support from the people in the region who see them as heroes and possible liberators.

So, considering the trauma these people were made to undergo, what do you think of the militants? What do you think of MEND? Criminals? Terrorists? Or maybe (with the kind of government they had to confront) a new kind of Activists?

White House opens doors to Iraq refugees

By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer

The Bush administration plans to allow about 7,000 Iraqi refugees to settle in the United States over the next year, a huge expansion at a time of mounting international pressure to help millions who have fled their homes in the nearly four-year-old war.

The United States has allowed only 463 Iraq refugees into the country since the war began in March 2003, even though some 3.8 million have been uprooted. A senior State Department official described the expanded program on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement later Wednesday.

The administration also plans to pledge $18 million for a worldwide resettlement and relief program. The United Nations has asked for $60 million from nations around the world.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Wednesday with U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres to outline the expanded U.S. program. The 7,000 would be resettled from nations outside Iraq where they have fled. The U.S. proposal also includes plans to offer special treatment for Iraqis still in the country whose cooperation with the U.S. government puts them at risk from sectarian reprisal.

Most refugees have fled to Syria and Jordan, both of which have recently tried to restrict the influx. The U.N. estimates that 40,000 to 50,000 people flee Iraq each month and have dwindling options of where to go. Other Iraqis relocate inside then country, with some leaving neighborhoods that were once mixed among Sunnis and Shiites and resettling where their sect is more concentrated.

U.S. diplomats have discussed the refugee situation directly with the Syrian government, the State Department official said. That is notable because of the administration's reluctance to engage Syria in high-level discussions about security in Iraq. The U.S. has also discussed the refugee problem with Jordan, a close ally, the official said.

The U.N. and allies have suggested the previous U.S. policy was stingy considering the U.S. role in starting the war. After The Associated Press reported the plan to allow far greater numbers to come to the United States, Jordan's chief government spokesman did not sound impressed.

Nasser Judeh said 7,000 is still a small number compared to the 700,000 Iraqi refugees Jordan has had to accommodate.

"7,000 Iraqi refugees is just 1 percent of the number we have," Judeh said.

Syria has taken in an estimated 1 million Iraqis. It was the last Arab country to take in large numbers.

The U.N. classifies most Iraqi refugees as having only "temporary protection status," rather than as permanent refugees — presumably because it assumes most will return to Iraq after the fighting ends. Guterres' office has said it hopes to permanently resettle this year up to 20,000 Iraqis whom it considers the most vulnerable, including women, children, survivors of torture, the seriously ill and minorities.

The worsening humanitarian crisis has resulted in calls for action by members of Congress and a plea from the United Nations for more countries to help out.

"It's not fair that the burden is not being shared effectively. A very limited number of countries is paying a very heavy price," Guterres said on a recent tour of the Mideast.

In a budget request filed with Congress last week, President Bush asked for $35 million to help Iraq's refugees next year, and another $15 million for this year.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said the administration "has been slow to react to a worsening situation, amid ample warnings." Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., told Rice at a hearing last week that the United States could admit about 7,000 Iraqi refugees this year.

Nigerian Kidnappers release 24 Filipino hostages

By Estelle Shirbon

Nigerian kidnappers have released all 24 Filipino seamen they had been holding captive in the creeks of the oil-producing Niger Delta since January 20, the men's employer, German shipping firm Baco-Liner, said on Tuesday.

The kidnappers said they had freed the men "on humanitarian grounds" without receiving any ransom, following the intervention of local elders and authorities. Most abductions in the anarchic Niger Delta are resolved after money changes hands.

"All 24 hostages are on board our vessel, Baco-Liner 2, and they're on their way to Warri now where they will be handed over directly to our agent," a spokesman for the company said, referring to the main city in the western delta.

He said the men were tired but in good health.

Another seven foreign hostages seized by different armed groups are still in captivity in the delta, where violence against expatriates and against the oil industry is on the rise. The remaining hostages are two Italians, one Lebanese, one American, two Filipinos and one Frenchman.

The kidnappers of the 24 Filipinos said they had seized the Baco-Liner 2 because it was "suspected to have been conveying arms and ammunition imported by top politicians in the country, to destabilize the 2007 general elections in the region."

Nigeria is due to hold elections in April that should mark the first democratic transition from one civilian government to the next in Africa's top oil producer.

The Baco-Liner spokesman said there were explosives on board the cargo ship but these were destined for oil companies that use them for exploration and had nothing to do with politics.

"We are not engaged in any smuggling whatsoever," said the spokesman.

DIVISIONS AMONG REBELS

The kidnappers said they would take unspecified "further actions" unless Nigerian authorities met a series of demands including the release of two jailed leaders from the delta and the payment of compensation to local villages for oil spills.

The abduction of the 24 Filipinos exposed divisions among rebel groups in the delta.

The kidnappers said they were from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), whose attacks a year ago forced the closure of 500,000 barrels per day in oil output, a fifth of Nigeria's capacity. That production has not resumed.

But Jomo Gbomo, who has always spoken for MEND since the group emerged in late 2005, has repeatedly denied his group was involved in the abduction. He says a separate group was responsible and MEND does not share that group's objectives.

Activist sources in the region say the group who kidnapped the Filipinos used to have links with Gbomo's MEND about a year ago, but they had fallen out. MEND has sometimes worked with pre-existing militias whose agendas are based on local issues.

Poverty, lawlessness and a collapse in public services due to rampant corruption among government officials lie at the root of the problems in the Niger Delta, where the lines are blurred between political militancy and crime.

Most residents of the vast wetlands region live without clean water, electricity, roads or functional clinics and this fuels resentment toward the multibillion-dollar oil industry.

Attacks on oil facilities, kidnappings for ransom, smuggling of stolen oil, armed robberies and assaults on the security forces are all common. Many fear the situation will worsen ahead of April's elections as armed thugs hired by politicians to intimidate their opponents spring into action.

Edwards to retain embattled bloggers

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said Thursday he was personally offended by the provocative messages two of his campaign bloggers wrote criticizing the Catholic church, but he's not going to fire them.

Edwards issued a statement and answered questions about the fate of Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan, two days after the head of the conservative Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights demanded they be fired for messages they wrote before working on the campaign.

"I talked personally to the two women who were involved. They gave me their word they, under no circumstances, intended to denigrate any church or anybody's religion and offered their apologies for anything that indicated otherwise. I took them at their word," Edwards told reporters during a campaign stop in Charleston, S.C.

An angry Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League that counts 350,000 members, criticized Edwards for not firing the two bloggers. Donohue also promised a nationwide public relations campaign in newspapers, magazines and Catholic publications to tell voters what the candidate had done.

"When Mel Gibson got drunk and made anti-Semitic remarks, he paid a price for doing so. When Michael Richards got angry and made racist remarks, he paid a price for doing so. ... But John Edwards thinks the same rules don't apply to him, which is why he has chosen to embrace foul-mouthed, anti-Catholic bigots on his payroll," Donohue said.

Edwards has never met the two bloggers and his first conversation with them came when he called to discuss the uproar. The 2004 vice presidential nominee told reporters in South Carolina: "It will not happen again. That you can be sure of."

The campaign distributed written regrets from the two women, who stressed they were writing on personal blogs. Edwards said in the statement he believes in giving everyone a "fair shake."

On Tuesday, Donohue called for Edwards to fire the bloggers, citing posts that the women made in the past several months in which they criticized the church's opposition to homosexuality, abortion and contraception, sometimes using profanity.

"The tone and the sentiment of some of Amanda Marcotte's and Melissa McEwan's posts personally offended me," Edwards said in the statement. "Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but that kind of intolerant language will not be permitted from anyone on my campaign, whether it's intended as satire, humor or anything else."

The two were hired last week as part of Edwards' outreach to liberal voters and online activists.

Edwards spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri said the campaign was aware that Marcotte and McEwan, like many bloggers, had written provocative postings on their personal sites. But the campaign had not read them all and had not seen the postings criticizing the church until Donohue put out a statement Tuesday, Palmieri said.

For instance, Marcotte had written that the church wants "to force women to bear more tithing Catholics" and McEwan had written that the pope is among those who "regularly speak out against gay tolerance." Other postings used more graphic language.

Edwards remained silent for two days as the controversy grew on the Internet. Most of those posting on liberal Web sites were calling for Edwards to keep the bloggers on staff and stand up to Donohue, and many were vowing to work against him if he didn't.

Donohue is a frequent critic of those who speak out against the church and what he calls "political correctness run amok," such as the separation of Christmas and the holiday season.

Donohue also doesn't shy from blunt language sometimes in his criticism of gays, Hollywood's control by "secular Jews who hate Christianity" and even the Edwards bloggers, whom he referred to as "brats" in an interview Wednesday on MSNBC.

Palmieri said Edwards had been traveling through Michigan, Missouri and Oklahoma and wanted time to discuss the bloggers' statements with them and weigh their future.

"We're dealing with people's careers and reputations and livelihoods," Palmieri said.

In her statement, McEwan said she doesn't expect Edwards to agree with everything she's posted, but they share "an unwavering support of religious freedom and a deep respect for diverse beliefs.

Marcotte's statement said her writings on religion on her blog, Pandagon, are generally satirical criticisms of public policies and politics.

Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, a nonprofit formed to highlight Catholic social justice teachings, also issued a statement condemning the bloggers' remarks but accepting Edwards' assurances that he was also offended.

"Catholics comprise more than one quarter of the U.S. public, and neither John Edwards nor any other candidate can afford to take this constituency for granted," said executive director Alexia Kelley, who served briefly as a religious adviser to 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.

U.S. contractor shot by U.S. forces

Associated Press

The U.S. military confirmed on Saturday that American forces at Camp Anaconda, the huge air base north of Baghdad, shot and killed a civilian contract truck driver.

A spokeswoman for KBR, a contracting subsidiary of Halliburton that was formerly known as Kellogg, Brown & Root, said the shooting was under investigation.

Melissa Norcross, the KBR spokeswoman, said the company was not releasing the name of the dead driver or a second person in the truck who was wounded "to protect the individuals' privacy."

In Baghdad, Lt. Cmdr. Bill speaks said, "There was an escalation of force incident at Camp Anaconda on Feb. 5 (Monday) that resulted in the death of a civilian contractor. The incident is under investigation by the Army Criminal Investigation Division and KBR."

An escalation of force incident normally means a driver approaching a checkpoint did not respond to military orders to approach slowly and stop.

"Sadly, 98 KBR employees and subcontractors have lost their lives, and more than 430 have been wounded by hostile action while performing services under the company's government contracts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait," Norcross said in an e-mail response to queries about the incident.

Halliburton is spinning off KBR into its own separate, publicly traded entity.