For the backstory on the conflict in the Niger Delta read NEXT's executive summary :
The Potential for Peace and Reconciliation in the Niger Delta
Related documents:
Niger Delta Report by Coventry Cathedral
VIDEO REPORTS;
♦ Displaced people of Ogbeh-Ijoh come out of hiding
♦ The people air their grievances
Three battalions of Nigerian soldiers are currently searching the creeks of the Niger Delta as part of an offensive launched on May 19 to flush out militants who fled helicopter and gunboat raids on their camps over the previous three days. NEXT learnt that people displaced by the intensified bombardment have been arriving in Ogbe-Ijoh Local Government of Warri, Delta State.
It is the country's largest military offensive in years. Militant raids on multi-billion naira oil installations and kidnappings with increasing fatalities have escalated in recent months.
On Friday May 15 the first phase of an operation which is aimed at destroying a number of militant encampments in the Niger Delta area was prosecuted by Nigerian troops in the Gbaramatu area of Delta State in Warri South Local Government Area. 13 hostages, including nine Filipino sailorsheld by the militants were freed. AFP reports that four Ukrainians out of 22 hostages seized from a fishing vessel were also rescued.
The spokesman for the Joint Task Force charged with containing militancy in the conflict ridden region, Col. Rabe Abubakar, claimed success. "The whole area around the Camp Five is under our JTF control ... the militants are on the run" he said.
Camp Five is just one of the militants' hideouts located in a predominantly Ijaw region of the state which the JTF destroyed by deploying newly acquired helicopter gunships. Close to 60 militants were reportedly killed in the attack on the Camp Five base.
MEND'S threats
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which professes to speak for the myriads of militant groups in the Niger Delta had on Thursday, May14 warned the military against any reprisal attack for recent actions which have included the hijacking of ships and more kidnappings of foreign and Nigerian oil workers.
Ijaw leaders appeal
A group of Ijaw leaders, the Ijaw National Congress (INC), issued a statement on Wednesday appealing to the government to seek alternative means than the use of force to deal with the militants. The statement signed by A. W. Obianime and Edwin K. Clark exhorted the government to note that innocent people were dying in the crossfire. (See related article link entitled ‘They are destroying our villages' for full transcript of the statement).
The Ijaw are the ethnic group immediately affected by the current military operation. The same group had earlier on Saturday called on the Nigerian president to begin implementation of the amnesty policy announced by him last month.
A peace initiative
The Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, his Akwa Ibom counterpart, Godswill Akpabio ,and the Minister of Niger Delta, Ufot Ekaette are slated to meet with members of the House of Representatives to find solutions to the crisis in the Niger Delta region at a conference in Abuja this week.
Other participants expected at the conference to be organised by a group of members of the house of representatives,calling themselves , The Initiative, are the Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro; Nigeria's former Chief of Defence Staff, Owoye Azazi; the former minister of National Planning, Sanusi Daggash; former presidential candidate, Dan Fulani of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, and managing directors of Shell Petroleum Development Company and Mobil Producing Unlimited.
The head of the group, Eseme Eyiboh said in a statement on Monday that the conference had become necessary because the Niger Delta crisis has significantly affected the nation's ability to meet its crude oil export obligations and posed a threat to national security.
"This is against the background of the perceived breakdown of family values and religious and political leadership at various levels leading to youth restiveness and its adverse effect on the nation's economy and development," he said.
Niger Delta neglect
Mr. Eyiboh, who is also the chairman of the House committee on Media and Public Affairs, noted that apart from the insincerity and neglect of the development of the area by past administrations, the failure to build peace at these levels worked against the effort to curb militancy in the region.
He added, "The situation in communities within the Niger Delta is that of total breakdown of traditional, cultural norms and values, abysmal lawlessness in addition to the obvious degradation. The effects and outcome of the militancy in the area, however, are those of social disruption, investment and capital might, poverty and under-development."
Oil prices have risen above 60 dollars per barrel, the highest in the past six months. Unrest in the oil-producing Niger Delta region has reduced Nigeria's daily output to 1.76 million barrels compared with 2.6 million barrels in January 2006.
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