Nigeria: Take note Barack ------- Obama. This is what happens when you negotiate with terrorists

Militant Nigerian group claims attack on Shell pipeline.

What 'militant group' you wonder? It is the group known as MEND or the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, a militant indigenous people's movement dedicated to armed struggle against the exploitation and oppression of the people of Niger Delta and the degradation of the natural environment by foreign multinational corporations involved in the extraction of oil in the Niger Delta and the Federal Government of Nigeria. MEND has been linked to attacks on foreign owned petroleum companies in Nigeria in an attempt to create an artificial Hubbert peak. (per wikipedia)

Shell accounts for half of Nigeria's output of roughly 2 million barrels per day, but it has lost over 150,000 barrels per day in the first quarter of 2008 due to attacks.

President Umaru Yar'Adua and Vice President Jonathan Goodluck, who took office in May 2007, have promised to negotiate with the militants and address their grievances.

However, the militants said that the leaders had failed to keep their word.

'Today's attack is dedicated to the administration of Umaru Yar'Adua and Goodluck Jonathan who have failed after one year in office to ensure peace, security and reconciliation in the Niger Delta region,' MEND said in an e-mailed statement.

Worries over the security of Nigeria's oil supply have helped drive up global oil prices, which briefly broke the 135-dollar-per- barrel mark on May 22 before falling away again.

News of the attack helped push prices back up to over 133 dollars.

And guess what? Look who's standing ready, willing and senile to assist in negotiations between the government? Jimmah Carter! (Talk about squandering what little you have left of your reputation...) Former US President Jimmy Carter ready to mediate about Niger Delta.

The militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said Tuesday that former US President Jimmy Carter had indicated willingness to mediate in the region's crisis. It said it received the confirmation Tuesday from The Carter Center through its Vice-President, John Stremlau.

An interesting note about MEND - they are considered an "open source" terrorist group (also from wikipedia.)

"...analogous to the decentralized communal development process now prevalent in the software industry, making it extremely quick to innovate and move new technologies and tactics rapidly from cell to cell without the direction of a vulnerable leadership hierarchy. Former Air Force counter-terrorism officer, technology analyst, and software entrepreneur, John Robb, in a Wired Magazine interview about the emergence of "open source guerrillas" alleged that MEND "doesn’t even field its own guerillas. They hire their experts and fighters mostly from criminal gangs and tribal warrior cults to do their operations."