Daily Independent (Lagos)
18 September 2009
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) on Wednesday announced an extension of its ceasefire by another 30 days, which expires on October 15, so as to enable Abuja "do the right thing."
It had vowed to resume hostilities after September 15, to press the government to adopt a holistic approach to the amnesty offer.
MEND Spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, carpeted the government for failing to identify the root cause of the crisis in the Niger Delta, and threatened that the group would return to the trenches on October 15 if the authorities still refuse to recognise the reason for the agitation.
He urged the oil firms, which would suffer most, not to take Abuja seriously on the amnesty initiative.
He accused the government of pretending to hold talks with militants while at the same time acquiring sophisticated weapons for the military to do battle with insurgents.
Gbomo insisted that, "The MEND does not recognise an amnesty that has not made any provision for meaningful dialogue on the root issues that gave birth to the Niger Delta unrest in the first place.
"We have, therefore, resolved to continue fighting because the reasons for fighting have not yet been addressed.
"The government should use this extension of time to do the right thing instead of pretending to talk peace while arming the military for a war it cannot win."
He warned oil companies "not be deceived by the amnesty charade or the recent military hardware purchases, as this is only leading to another cycle of violence."
President Umaru Yar'Adua on June 25 proclaimed amnesty for militants who surrender their arms within a period of 60 days, from August 6 to October 4.
The MEND responded by declaring a self-imposed ceasefire that ended on September 15, and has now been extended to October 15.
Some have publicly denounced militancy and surrendered their arms, but others are yet undecided on the offer.
Last month, the MEND said it was prepared to keep its ceasefire "and even extend it if the conditions are encouraging."
Its decision on Tuesday arose in part from the meeting which a delegation from Abuja, led by Defence Minister, Godwin Abbe, had with militant leaders on Sunday, where he urged them to persuade the MEND to extend the ceasefire for at least another month.
On Monday, the MEND replied that the deadline could only be pushed back with the approval of its leader, Henry Okah, who agreed in July to accept amnesty after gun running and treason charges against him were dropped and he was freed from detention.
On the other hand, other militant leaders, Ateke Tom and Government Ekpemupolo (Tompolo), have also implored Abuja to extend its amnesty by three months to allow for more dialogue.
Presidential Adviser on Niger Delta, Timi Alaibe, expressed confidence on Tuesday that Ateke and Tompolo would soon hand over their weapons in return for clemency, because his meeting with them on Sunday was "very fruitful."
He said they "indicated they are 100 per cent for the amnesty programme, that they wholly accept it, but they have also made some requests to Yar'Adua."
He disclosed that the number of militants "who have come to be processed is about 6,000 and over 3,000 have been documented."
Meanwhile, electricity generation and distribution is now 2,450 megawatts (mw) but efforts are "on course" to meet the 6,000 mw target this year, the Minister of State for Power, Nuhu Wya, told reporters in Abuja on Wednesday after a Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by Yar'Adua.
He said the current capacity of over 5,200 mw is hampered by insufficient gas supply to thermal plants and low water levels at dams servicing hydropower stations.
Wya stressed that amnesty deal has helped the situation as contractors for power plants and pipeline repairs are returning to site, hence the optimism that 6,000 mw would be delivered.
That promise may hold if neither side of the amnesty deal is provoked to resume hostilities in the Deep South.
On Wednesday, the MEND noted with anger Abuja's deployment of its arsenal of intelligence planes, warships, and helicopter gunships bought from Israel, Malaysia, Singapore, Holland, and Russia to match attacks by insurgents.
Daily Independent reported the story on Tuesday, in which a security source said the government "is set to launch a full-scale offensive in the Niger Delta to match the MEND's possible sabotage of installations."
Director of the African Security Research Project in Washington, Daniel Volman, confirmed that Israeli and Russian instructors have been "providing specialised training to Nigerian Navy and Air Force sailors and pilots on how to operate the ships and helicopters over the past few months, and some of these instructors may help operate them during the offensive."
Volman, who has been studying U.S. security policy toward Africa and African security issues for more than 30 years, said the stockpile "include deals worth $25 million for two 24.8-metre Shaldag MK-2 patrol boats from the Israeli firm, Israel Shipyards - one has already been delivered and the other is on its way - and another deal involves air and sea drones from Aeronautica Ventures, another Israeli company.
"Shaldag MK-20 patrol boats are generally armed with artillery guns and machine guns. Eighty Nigerian sailors are presently being trained in counterinsurgency operations at the northern Israeli port of Haifa.
He also disclosed that Nigeria recently bought a surveillance system that uses Aerostar unmanned drones and Seastar vessels produced by Israel's Aeronautics Defence Systems/Aeronautics Ventures - and 20 troop-carrying catamarans from the Dutch firm, TP Marine, to transport soldiers up the creeks and small rivers.
He said the Nigerian Navy also recently took delivery of two 38-metre Manta-class patrol boats built by the Nautica Nova Shipbuilding yard in Malaysia.
"These ships were officially commissioned on April 12. Four additional 17-metre Manta-class patrol boats have also been delivered to Nigeria from Singapore Technologies Marine.
"The Nigerian Navy also recently procured 35 new machine gun-equipped fast patrol boats in a deal paid for by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), reportedly on the instructions of Yar'Adua.
"The Nigerian Air Force has received at least 15 Mi-24, Mi-34, and Mi-35 helicopter gunships and troop transport helicopters from Russia. Some of these were reportedly delivered just before President Dimitri Medvedev's visit to Nigeria in June.
"These helicopters are armed with Gatling guns, machine guns, bombs, rocket launchers, and rockets, and can also carry up to eight soldiers at the same time.
"Russian instructors are currently in Nigeria training Nigerian pilots on how to operate these helicopters. The training is reportedly not going very well, raising speculation that the government may ask the Russian instructors to operate the helicopter gunships during the impending military offensive.
"These helicopter gunships were used extensively by the Soviet Union during its invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, and have been used more recently for counterinsurgency operations by the governments of Sierra Leone, Guinea, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Chad."
By Ofonime Umanah (Port Harcourt),Paul Arhewe, Adeola Yusuf (Lagos), Chesa Chesa (Abuja) and Harris-Okon Emmanuel (Warri) (With Agency Report)
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