Militants of the Mangroves

The United States is highly dependent upon Nigeria for oil and natural gas products. Instability in the Niger Delta threatens a significant portion of the world's oil production. Stabilizing the situation in Nigeria is vital to United States national security interests. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) is a Nigerian indigenous militant organization that targets oil facilities in an attempt to obtain a greater share of the oil revenue. Primarily comprised of unemployed, disaffected youth from the Ijaw minority ethnic group, MEND single-handedly has been disrupting the world's oil supply. Seen as freedom fighters to the local population and criminals to the government, MEND has given the issue of resource control of the Niger Delta an international stage.