Nigerian group threatens German construction firm unit

LAGOS: Nigeria's most prominent armed group on Monday threatened to carry out deadly attacks on expatriate staff of Julius Berger PLC, a local unit of Germany's Bilfinger Berger construction giant.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) gave the German construction giant until next Monday, August 11, to vacate all its sites in and around the capital Abuja.

"Failure to vacate its staff from construction sites and halt all ongoing projects in the FCT (Federal Capital Territory) Abuja on the deadline will result in unprecedented deadly attacks on the expatriate staff of Julius Berger inside Abuja and other parts of the country until they comply," an email statement said.

MEND seemed to be protesting at the way Julius Berger recently abandoned its projects in the Niger Delta, citing harrassment.

In recent months the company has been among those targetted by kidnappers in the delta.

MEND said the company should now apply the same logic to Abuja and abandon its projects there after its premises were attacked by an angry mob on Friday following a road accident involving one of its vehicles that left a dozen people dead.

"Julius Berger ought to abandon its projects in Abuja for being harrassed the same way they have abandoned the projects in the Niger Delta," MEND said.