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Nigerian gov't in talks with Niger Delta militants

Xinhua, July 22, 2016 Adjust font size:

Dialogue is held with key Niger Delta militants through oil companies and law enforcement agencies to find a lasting solution to insecurity in the region, the government said Thursday.

President Muhammadu Buhari disclosed this in Abuja, Nigeria's capital on Thursday.

He said his administration was studying the instruments of the amnesty program inherited from the previous administration with a view to carrying out commitments made that were undelivered.

Two weeks ago, Nigeria's main militant group in oil rich Niger Delta region, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said it has set up a peace broker committee to mediate between them and the government, and gave the government a two-week ultimatum to commence dialogues.

The group described members of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) as criminals, who had been holding the Nigerian government to ransom and forcing concessions.

The NDA members, according to MEND, also engage in militancy for their own personal aggrandizement.

The militant group expressed displeasure that successive governments and the international oil companies operating in the crude oil and gas-rich Niger Delta had repeatedly reneged on agreements entered into with the people of the region and also owing the Niger Delta Development Commission billions of naira in withheld funds.

MEND added that if after the two-week ultimatum and it did not hear from the Nigerian government, the militant group would assume that the Mohammad Buhari's administration was truly not sincere about dialogue on the Niger Delta question, but would prefer to respond only to the threat of violence or industrial action.

The group has been known for carrying out attacks on international oil companies in the Niger Delta, engaging in actions including sabotage, theft, property destruction, guerrilla warfare and kidnapping.

In June 2009, the Nigerian government offered amnesty to gunmen in the oil rich Niger Delta region, urging them to lay down their weapons in a bid to end unrest, which has cost Africa's top oil exporter billions of dollars in lost revenue.

The Niger Delta is an unstable area where inter-ethnic clashes are commonplace. Access to oil revenue is the trigger for the violence. Endit