Oil region unrest in Nigeria

A sharp escalation of ethnic violence in Nigeria’s oil-rich delta has killed 38 people in the past two weeks, prompting a military buildup in the troubled region of swamps and mangrove forests – and leading multinationals to abandon one-sixth of the country’s production for more than four months.

Twice in the past week, Nigerian soldiers repelled attacks by unidentified assailants on the town of Koko near an oil-blending plant, run by French firm Total said Private Onoja Abu, anxiously fingering his automatic rifle.