Nigeria Turns To China For Defence Aid
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The Financial Times (UK)
By Dino Mahtani in Lagos
Published: February 27, 2006
http://news.ft.com

Nigeria has criticised Washington for failing to help protect the country's oil assets from rebel attack, forcing it to turn to other military suppliers, including China, for support.

Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria's Vice-President, told the Financial Times the US had been too slow to help protect the oil-rich Niger Delta from a growing Insurgency. He said talks with the US over security plans for the region did not "appear to be moving as fast as the situation is unfolding" and Nigeria was instead sourcing military equipment elsewhere.

Nigerian security forces said China was becoming one of Nigeria's main suppliers of military hardware. They said new supplies would include dozens of patrol boats to secure the swamps and creeks that form the launching pad for rebel attacks.

A senior Nigerian military official said Nigeria had "felt let down" by the reluctance of the US military to offer more support and that the Chinese boats were "a very welcome development."

Analysts say Nigeria wants 200 boats to guard the Delta.

Militant attacks on oil facilities and abductions of foreign oil workers this month have shut down a fifth of Nigeria's oil production. Both the US and China see Nigeria, the eigth-largest oil exporter, as an important future supplier.

The US government has offered the Nigerian military technical assistance and training, but has provided only four old coastal patrol boats. Nigeria has also ordered 35 smaller high-speed patrol boats from a US company but fewer than half have been received, said a security analyst.

Diplomats and analysts say that concerns over the level of corruption within the Nigerian security forces and human rights violations have made the US reluctant to supply more equipment.

Nigeria accuses militants of funding themselves with stolen oil but many industry officials say military personnel are involved in cartels that sell stolen oil to criminal syndicates.

Stephen Morrison, director of the Africa Programme at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said the Pentagon had been "hot and cold" about providing military assistance because of difficulties in working with the Nigerian military.

"The Chinese are very competitive players and we have to come to terms with that. They are going to places that really do matter."

While the US has provided some assistance to Nigeria, it has been tempered by Congressional concerns about corruption and human rights issues.

Mr Morrison said Washington needed to get more serious about dealing with the Nigerian military and show more concern about Chinese involvement in the country.

China insists it does not use arms sales for diplomatic or political ends, and analysts say Beijing has been willing to approve weapons shipments to almost any willing state buyer.

Nigeria last year signed an $800m deal to supply PetroChina with 30,000 barrels a day of oil. This year, CNOOC, China's largest offshore producer, agreed to pay $2.3bn for a share in an oil block owned by a former defence minister. Oil industry officials say China is looking to increase its interest in bidding for offshore oil acreage in Nigeria.

Additional reporting by Mure Dickie in Beijing,
And Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington.