Lagos — The Action Congress (AC) has appealed to the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) to give peace a chance in the oil region, saying reverting to attacks against oil facilities and other acts of violence, as threatened by MEND, will not advance the course of peace.

In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the bomb explosions that scuttled Monday's post-amnesty dialogue in Warri, Delta State for which MEND claimed responsibility, negated all efforts to restore peace to the Niger Delta.

It warned, however, that all stakeholders, especially the governors of the states in the Niger Delta, must refrain from inciting and insulting comments like the one describing MEND as a paper tiger which only exists in the minds of a few people.

"While negotiating peace, it is necessary for all stakeholders to refrain from making such incendiary comments like the one attributed to some governors in the Niger Delta.

"Such careless comments helped trigger the latest action by MEND. Of course, it is the height of ignorance - or perhaps of deliberate mischief - for anyone to seek to belittle MEND's role in the search for peace in the Niger Delta. But now that MEND has made its point, it should refrain from any act that can throw the region back to those days of endless violence," AC said.

The party also called on the Federal Government not to relent in engaging all stakeholders in the region, whether or not they are repentant militants, saying the little success recorded by the government through the amnesty programme should not be a reason to slow down the search for peace.

It commended the publishers of the Vanguard Newspapers for organising the post-amnesty dialogue, describing them as patriots who are seeking to fill the void created by the government's inaction since the end of the amnesty programme.

"We believe the organisers of the dialogue meant well, and that they were not responsible for the actions that led to the attacks that brought the talks to an abrupt end," AC said.