Nigerian President Declares Oil Attacks Over
By VOA News
15 October 2009
Nigeria's president says rebel attacks in the oil-rich Niger Delta are over, despite a militant group's vow to resume attacks on Friday.
President Umaru Yar'Adua told visiting members of OPEC, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, that his amnesty offer to militants has returned peace and stability to the Niger Delta region.
Speaking in Abuja late Wednesday, Mr. Yar'Adua said his government is now implementing a post-amnesty program and that all sides are participating in the process.
However, the region's most prominent rebel group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), says it will most likely resume attacks on the oil industry.
In an e-mail to VOA Thursday, MEND said it will confirm its position after midnight local time, when the group's three-month-old cease-fire is set to end.
The group stopped their attacks in July to allow for possible peace talks with the government. But the two sides have yet to hold formal talks.
The Nigerian government says more than 8,000 militants from the Niger Delta turned in their weapons during a 60-day amnesty period that ended Sunday.
Officials say that because of the amnesty program, oil production is rising again. President Yar'Adua said Wednesday that Nigeria can now meet its production quota of 1.8 million barrels per day.
Attacks and kidnappings had sharply curtailed Nigeria's oil output over the past three years.
MEND says it is fighting for a fairer distribution of Nigeria's oil wealth. Most people in the Niger Delta are impoverished while the government takes in tens of billions of dollars in oil revenue each year.
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