Africa's Oil Comes With Big Downside

"BUGUMA, Nigeria (AP) - The capital of the ancient Kalabari kingdom is vivid testimony to the downside of Africa's oil.

A gutted local government building stands by the central square, near a smashed statue of the town's founding king. Soldiers patrol the streets.

These are scars from a three-month occupation last year by a private militia accused of rapes and random killings, and dozens of villages in the oil-rich Niger River delta have suffered similar violence.

"We are in a state of emergency," said the head of Buguma's Council of Chiefs, 62-year-old Mangibo Amachree. Soldiers are keeping the peace for now, and Amachree prays they will stay until the 2007 presidential election, which already is raising fears of more fighting.

Often, oil money is a driving force in heating long-standing political rivalries to the boiling point."
MyWay

All the news is depressing. I'm going to have to stop, reading.