Heavy fighting rocked the Nigerian oil city of Warri overnight, but subsided today after two days of ethnic violence that has cast doubt on plans to resume full oil output in one of the world's top exporters.
Major oil firms slashed crude output after a March rebellion by ethnic Ijaws in which dozens died, and the latest fighting in the southern city of Warri could well delay any plans by Royal Dutch Shell, Nigeria's biggest producer, and ChevronTexaco to restart some facilities abandoned after the clashes five months ago.
Warri was relatively calm today after heavy overnight street fighting as rival ethnic militia defied a curfew and fought gun battles.
At least three people, one a soldier, have been killed since fighting between ethnic Ijaws and Itsekiris first erupted on Friday and raged on into Saturday. Thousands have fled their homes, many of which have been torched.
The latest cycle of unrest, essentially over land and political power, is the fiercest since the Ijaws' March revolt shut down nearly 40 per cent of OPEC-member Nigeria's over two million barrels per day oil output.
The poverty-stricken Niger Delta region around Warri, Forcados and Escravos has been volatile for years and local tribes feuding over a share of oil revenues clash frequently. Officials from the major oil firms were not immediately available for comment on the latest skirmishes, which witnesses said followed an attack on the village of Ode-Itsekiri, homeland of the Itsekiris, on Thursday, in which four people were reported killed and 15 missing.
At least 20 people have been killed since ethnic Ijaw and Itsekiri resumed tit-for-tat attacks in mid-July after a lull following the March warfare.
Local human rights groups say funds from the large-scale theft of crude oil are being used to bring small arms into the area. Between 200,000 and 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil are estimated to be stolen daily by thieves.