Reader Posts

In His Spare Time, Obama Brings Peace To Nigeria

By thejoshuablog - May 6, 2008, 10:17AM

Seriously. No Joke.

From Reuters (h/t Ben Smith):

Rebels who have stepped up attacks on
Nigeria's oil industry in the last
month
said on Sunday they were considering
a ceasefire appeal by U.S.
presidential
hopeful Barack Obama.

The Movement for the Emancipation of
the Niger Delta (MEND) has launched

five attacks on oil facilities in the Niger
Delta since it resumed a campaign of

violence in April, forcing Royal Dutch
Shell to shut more than 164,000 barrels

of oil per day (bpd).
"The MEND command is seriously
considering a temporary ceasefire appeal
by
Senator Barack Obama. Obama is
someone we respect and hold in high
esteem," the
militant group said in an
e-mailed statement.

Then again, it's just words.

Comments (7)

BETTER FORMATTING:

LAGOS (Reuters) - Rebels who have stepped up attacks on Nigeria's oil industry in the last month said on Sunday they were considering a ceasefire appeal by U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has launched five attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta since it resumed a campaign of violence in April, forcing Royal Dutch Shell to shut more than 164,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd).

"The MEND command is seriously considering a temporary ceasefire appeal by Senator Barack Obama. Obama is someone we respect and hold in high esteem," the militant group said in an e-mailed statement.

MEND did not say when or where Obama, the leading candidate for the Democratic ticket for November's U.S. presidential election, made the appeal. It said it hoped the government would use any ceasefire to improve conditions for its detained leader, Henry Okah.

Posted by thejoshuablog
May 6, 2008 10:18 AM | Reply | Permalink

I heard he cured Cancer sunday as well.

Posted by Louisville1975
May 6, 2008 10:36 AM | Reply | Permalink

Oh, I get it. You're from Kentucky.

Posted by thejoshuablog
May 6, 2008 10:45 AM | Reply | Permalink

No, seems the real point is that you don't get anything.

Posted by Louisville1975
May 6, 2008 10:59 AM | Reply | Permalink

Yeah I read about this over the weekend.

We will see how it turns out.

Posted by Jonathan617
May 6, 2008 11:26 AM | Reply | Permalink

It's very odd that there is no followup in the MSM, here at TPM, nor even in the reuters article itself. I am not paranoid enough to think that the media (including TPM, including Huffington) is just too biased, not paying attention, or not interested in Obama's international negotiations enough to followup and ask his campaign, "what's that all about?"

My guess is either:
1) They have asked the Obama campaign, who said, "huh? we don't know what they're talking about," and now journalists are scrambling to figure out what MEND is referencing.
or
2) This is a case, as with the Kenya crisis, where the state department asked Obama to use his clout in Africa to help a peace negotiation. The media has asked Obama about it and he has responded, "Look, I don't want you to report on this right now because it has nothing to do with my campaign and too much publicity could undermine our efforts." He didn't play up his part in the Kenya peace talks, I think, for the same reason.

Posted by boo_lala
May 6, 2008 12:54 PM | Reply | Permalink

Heard he has the AIDS problem all sorted out. more news tomorrow

Posted by Louisville1975
May 6, 2008 2:13 PM | Reply | Permalink