Nigeria:

A peace treaty has been signed between the Nigerian Federal Government and the Rivers State militias: Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force,led by Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo Asari, and the Niger Delta Vigilante Service, led by Ateke Tom. The government had deployed troops to the region early last month to end gang violence in Port Harcourt, the hub of Nigeria's oil industry, and its surrounding villages. On the 1st of October, the NDPVF launced "a full-scale armed struggle" to wrest control of the region's oil riches from the government, on the 44th anniversary of Nigeria's independence from Britain. Dokubo Asari claims to be fighting for the self-determination of more than 8 million Ijaws, the dominant tribe in the southern delta region that accounts for nearly all of Nigeria's daily oil exports. [the NDVS is also Ijaw.] After the peace deal was agreed, Dokubo Asari promised to continue to press for common control of their resources. "We have decided henceforth, there will be only one banner for Ijaw people. We shall join forces with other ethnic nationalities to compel the Nigerian government to be alive to its responsibilities to the people."
This unrest contributed to the recent spike in oil prices. Nigeria is Africa's major oil exported (ranked 7th in the world) and the fifth-biggest source of U.S. oil imports (10% US crude imports). Nigeria's daily production of is 2.5 million barrels, 28,000 barrels a day from the Niger Delta alone. Royal Dutch Shell, which accounts for half of the oil production, withdrew 250 employees and halted its oil production in response to unrest. Other foreign companies are Agip, which exports about 200,000 barrels of oil daily from its Brass terminal on Nigeria's Atlantic coast, and ChevronTexaco, the country's third-largest oil producer.
The Christian Science Monitor summarised recently (1/Oct/2004):

"The government of President Olusegun Obasanjo has been vocal in its pursuit of
money stolen by the late dictator Gen. Sani Abacha and his associates, but
activists ask why the authorities have failed to confront living members of
other notoriously corrupt military and civilian regimes.
Western multinationals are also widely accused of helping sustain graft. A report
published in July by the US Senate found that US oil companies in Equatorial
Guinea made payments to government officials and their relatives and formed
joint ventures with companies linked to members of the country's repressive
ruling clan. A consortium of Western companies including a subsidiary of
Halliburton is under investigation in the US, France, and Nigeria over
allegations that it made more than $150 million of illicit payments to Nigerian
officials and expatriates."

Further talks are expected to resume on October 8 in the Nigerian capital, government officials and rebel leaders said. Associated Press cited (on Oct 4th) military sources to report an outbreak of violence last weekend in the Ijaw village of Ke, near Bille, in which "several people" were killed.
Oil prices are cheap in Nigeria, but few of the population benefit from oil wealth. Despite being Africa's biggest exporter of the type of crude oil that is the best suited for refining into petrol, Nigeria is forced to import refined petroleum products due to the poor state of its four refineries. Fuel prices also increased in Nigeria: the government issued a 25% hike in late Sept. Nigeria's central labour movement, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has theatened to strike if the government fails to reverse the recent fuel price hikes. Its time the African people (not foreign companies, and not African cronies) benefit from the riches of their natural resources, to address the problems of hunger and disease that affect so many millions.