Niger Delta Vigilante

Niger Delta Vigilante
Participant in Conflict in the Niger Delta
Active 2003-present
Ideology Secession from Nigeria
Leaders Ateke Tom
Headquarters unknown
Area of operations Niger Delta
Strength 4,000
Originated as Ijaw Youth Council
Allies none
Opponents  Nigeria
Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta
Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force
Joint Revolutionary Council
Battles and wars Conflict in the Niger Delta

The Niger Delta Vigilante (NDV) is an armed militia group in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The NDV is led by Ateke Tom. The group is composed primarily by ethnic Ijaws from in and around Port Harcourt and their main goal is controlling the area's vast oil resources.[1] In late 2003 the NDV precipitated a conflict with their rival Ijaw ethnic militia, the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force (NDPVF). The two groups spent most of 2004 in an escalating conflict which was ended when the Nigerian government and military eventually intervened on the side of the NDV in summer of 2004.[2] The government's support of the NDV would eventually precipitate the Nigerian oil crisis, beginning in October 2004.

See also

References

  1. "NIGER DELTA VIGILANTE — About us". Ateke Tom/Niger Delta Vigilante. 2007.
  2. "Criminal Violence and Human Rights Abuses Against the Local Population in 2004". Human Rights Watch. January 2005.

External links