Africa

Former Rebels call for an End to Violence in Nigeria

Former rebels are asking new rebels to stop their violent actions in the Niger Delta

June 14th, 2016
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12th of June: The movement for the emancipation of Niger (MEND), known for its attacks on oil extraction installations in the 2000s, has asked the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) to stop their violent actions in the Niger Delta and to sit at the negotiation table with the federal government.

In their press release, the MEND stated that the « fight for the Niger Delta goes far beyond attacks against oil extraction installations » and, since they no longer believe this is an efficient way of action in order to achieve their goal of emancipating Niger, they urged the NDA to negotiate with the federal government. However, the NDA already rejected the idea of sitting at the negotiation table on the 8th of June. Instead, they claimed attacks all around the Niger Delta in the last few weeks against subsidiaries of the oil companies Shell, Eni, Chevron and of Nigeria’s National Oil company.

This has made production fall to its lowest level since 2007 at 1,4 million barrels a day. This makes the economic situation of the country, already demeaned by the low price of oil, worse. But, for now at least, it won’t make the NDA stop since they are demanding, like the MEND in the 2000s, a more equal repartition of the earnings coming from the oil exploitation for the population of the region. Moreover, the NDA is more radical than the MEND ever was. It is also demands an independent State for the Niger Delta.

The violence of the MEND was put to an end by an amnesty program from the government in 2009 but the announcement of the end of this program in 2018 is probably the reason why new violent actions are happening in the region led by the NDA.

References

Cultural Diplomacy News
Pierre Even, CD News