Armed militias in the Niger Delta are becoming bolder.

7. Takes note of the information provided by the representatives of Liberia, the Niger and Sao Tome and Principe

Here are a few snapshots of the Niger taken by Boukary Konaté and his team, reproduced with permission.

In the fourteenth century, the powerful Mali Empire included parts of modern day Senegal, Guinea, and Niger.

In October 2004, violence in the region forced Obasanjo s government to negotiate with militia leader Asari Dokubu, after his men attacked a series of Royal Dutch Shell oil facilities and threatened to burn down the area.

The Niger Delta region, home to most of Nigeria s oil and many of its poor people, is in turmoil.

But attacks in Iraq s Sunni triangle (and Baghdad in particular) occur at a rate rivaling those in Chechnya and the Niger Delta.

Friday, there was high suspense in the district of Faranah because panicked students attacked the only Transit Ebola Center located in the village. According to Sidy Bah, rumours of Ebola being a foreign driven disease started from schools in the urban district of Faranah following the arrival of a health team to immunise school children.

River basin organizations such as that established for the Nile, Niger, or Senegal rivers help facilitate dialogue between states that share hydraulic resources.

Nonetheless, the new government has pushed a great deal for international counterterrorist assistance, as evidenced by President Buhari's recent meetings with the presidents of Chad, Cameroon, and Niger.

Yar Adua s health worries are creating risks to Nigeria s stability that run far beyond questions about the Niger Delta or any single political issue.

Marshall Harry, an ANPP chieftain and General Buhari's point man in the volatile Niger delta region, was murdered on March 5th.

The Biafra war was largely an oil war, prosecuted by northern officers and politicians to win back the delta oil fields from the Igbo.

Nor has it brought peace to the oil rich Niger delta whose impoverished people resent exploitation of the resources of their territory for the enrichment of a corrupt elite.

The next young inventor seeking to help the environment just might come from Niger. Meet Abdou Barmini, 22, who invented an anti pollution device that cleans the air from industrial fumes.

A view of the Niger river from the embankment of Sekoro, Mali A traditional Malian boat on the river Niger, en route to the market Ouro Mody, a village on the Niger bank traditional Fula architecture The mosque of Djafarabe, in Fula territory Women fetch water from the river to water rice paddies A fisherman's son tends to play with the tool of the trade Life aboard the UNESCO boat A crew member, in traditional head dress A Pirogue (dugout) sailing off as dusk descends on the Niger

Both research teams rate Albania, Bangladesh, the Gambia, Malaysia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkey as meeting the three year criterion, with all but Albania and Niger meeting the five year criterion.

Dokubu s allies have responded with new attacks.

In reaching out to armed groups like the Movement for Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), one of his primary assets has been his vice president, Goodluck Jonathan, a native of the area.

President Umaru Yar Adua has taken concrete steps to tackle elite level corruption in Nigeria, and appears to have made progress toward a comprehensive peace agreement with the Delta rebels.

In the Niger delta, where oil production and official neglect have devastated the environment and wrecked livelihoods, enraged youths took to the swamps and led an insurgency against Federal troops.

Facing the sharp end of the stick are the seven million Niger delta peasants, who bear the brunt of the violence, environmental devastation, and social anarchy that Big Oil produces wherever it sets up its drilling rigs.

For example, a decision needs to be made as to whether the transfers go to each citizen or each household (a yearly check for each person in the family may have undesirable consequences on fertility as parents have children to collect checks). Also, Nigerians need to decide whether all beneficiaries receive equal shares, or whether those who face the environmental consequences of oil exploration and production for example, in the Nigerian delta should receive more.

But it is PRONACO s demand that at least 50 of the oil revenue derived from the Niger delta and other states in the south be retained in the area of production that most threatens the survival of the country s survival as a united entity.

Also, Nigerians need to decide whether all beneficiaries receive equal shares, or whether those who face the environmental consequences of oil exploration and production for example, in the Nigerian delta should receive more.

Having also considered the letter dated 1 October 2003 from the President of the General Assembly to the Chairman of the Fifth Committee transmitting a letter dated 26 September 2003 from the Permanent Representative of the Niger to the United Nations,A C.5 58 4.

Moreover, communal violence has combined with deep seated local resentment against western oil companies to render the oil rich delta a battlefront.

And if I go down and look at Niger, where there was such a terrible famine, lastly, it's like this. The 20 percent poorest of Niger is out here, and the 20 percent richest of South Africa is there, and yet we tend to discuss on what solutions there should be in Africa.

The northern business and political elite see him as a bulwark against their increasingly restive southern rivals who openly threaten a repeat of the Igbo attempt to secede in 1967 that caused the Biafra conflict, taking the rich oil fields of the Niger delta with them.

Marshall Harry, an ANPP chieftain and General Buhari's point man in the volatile Niger delta region, was murdered on March 5