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.
Speaking on Wednesday at the end of the meeting of the Group of Eight leading industrial nations in Japan, also attended by President Umaru Yar�Adua, Brown had said that his country was ready to offer the Nigerian military direct assistance to help return law and order to the Niger Delta and to restore oil output.
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.
The newspaper quoted an unnamed spokesman in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office as saying that �options� were being considered although there had been no change in policy. However, senior British military sources said there were no contingency plans for intervention in Nigeria that can be activated and any operation would have to be organised from the scratch.
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.
The report quoted a former commander of the Royal Marines, Major General Julian Thompson, as saying, �It would be utterly extraordinary to propose anything like a sizeable deployment of forces to Nigeria. Where are they going to come from? The MoD (Ministry of Defence) has not exactly got a box marked �new troops� they can open up for something like this. It would be possible to send special forces in limited numbers to help the Nigerian military, but, with the current situation in Afghanistan they cannot be kept there for anything like a prolonged period.�
Brown�s offer, which provoked a sharp threat on Thursday from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta to attack British interests and nationals in Nigeria, has meanwhile forced the FCO to advise Britons living in the Niger Delta to vacate the region immediately.
The FCO statement, made available to our correspondent by email, said the British government was advising against all travel to the �Niger Delta states of Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers (including Port Harcourt) and advised British nationals in these states to leave.
�We also advise against all travel to riverine areas of Akwa Ibom State (i.e. the river and swamp locations on or close to the coast accessible by boat, but not by road). We advise British nationals in these areas to leave.�
The statement, which warned of a �very high risk� of kidnapping, armed robbery and other armed attacks in these areas, said armed groups were planning further attacks on oil and gas industry targets in the Delta, and on other non-oil and gas industry targets and individuals across Nigeria.