See my Africa posts for more.
Also related: When Was the Last Time You Heard About... Nigeria?
"Nigerian rebels call cease-fire, fear attack" by Bashir Adigun, Associated Press | July 16, 2009
ABUJA, Nigeria - Nigerian militants called a halt yesterday to their campaign of attacking oil installations and kidnapping foreigners, then said military gunboats and troops were heading toward a rebel camp in a move that could upend the deal.
The military quickly denied the allegation, saying it had no plans to attack rebels from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, the country’s main militant group.
Earlier yesterday, the militants called the cease-fire, saying the government had met one of their demands and released an ailing rebel leader on Monday. Both sides had welcomed the prospect of negotiations to end the years of violence that have trimmed Nigeria’s daily oil output by 25 percent to about 1.7 million barrels per day.
“Barely 12 hours into our cease-fire, the military Joint Task Force has dispatched seven gun boats with heavily armed troops from Warri and are headed towards one of our camps located around the Delta/Ondo state border,’’ rebel spokesman Jomo Gbomo said in an e-mail to the Associated Press.
“We are monitoring the armada and sincerely hope that the planned attack will be converted to a war exercise,’’ Gbomo said. The military denied the rebels’ allegations, calling them “borne out of mischief.’’ “We know where they are, but we don’t intend to attack them,’’ military spokesman Colonel Rabe Mohammed told the Associated Press. “We are in total obedience to the directive of our political leaders and the proclamation of amnesty.’’
The militants said they hope the cease-fire would create an “enabling environment’’ for talks with the government on their demands. They say their impoverished region has not benefited from decades of oil production, and are agitating for more federally held oil funds to be sent to the south. They also want the government to withdraw troops from the area and help people return to homes they either fled amid the violence or were forced to leave.
The government has acknowledged the grievances of many in the Niger Delta, but denounces the militants as criminals who steal crude oil from Nigeria’s wells and pipelines and profit by selling it overseas.
Seriously, how do they do that? Must all governments tell fantastic lies?
Still, no one denies that the Niger Delta remains poverty-stricken and polluted more than 50 years after oil first was pumped in Nigeria....
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