Nigeria

A spate of kidnappings and attacks over the past several weeks suggests that militancy in the Niger Delta is making a comeback ahead of elections. Although a government sponsored amnesty programme is technically still in place, it has done little to prevent a sharp rise in the number of attacks since the presidential campaign got underway. Such tensions are serious challenge to Goodluck Jonathan, whose ethnic ties to the Delta were long assumed to have earned him the support of the region. The military was deployed to patrol the area in mid-November, managing to secure the handover to 19 hostages, but the last of the attacks has not yet been seen.

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