9 October 2009 / AP, ABUJA
Nigeria's main militant group vowed to resume attacks after a cease-fire expires next week, while the government said on Thursday that more than 8,000 militants had disarmed as part of an amnesty program.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said in a statement that it would no longer limit its attacks to the destruction of pipelines and said that most of those participating in the amnesty program “were rented by the government in the hope that real militants would be persuaded to emerge.” “We will fight for our land with the last drop of our blood regardless of how many people the government of Nigeria and the oil companies are successful in bribing,” MEND spokesman Jomo Gbomo said. MEND had been attacking oil installations, kidnapping petroleum company employees and fighting government troops since January 2006 in what it calls a protest against the unrelenting poverty of people in the Niger Delta. The militant group had declared a 60-day cease-fire on July 15, saying the government had met one of its demands by releasing ailing rebel leader Henry Okah. In mid-September the group extended its cease-fire by one month, saying it hoped the truce would help facilitate talks with the government. The militants say they are fighting to force the federal government to send more oil-industry funds to the southern region that remains poor despite five decades of oil production.
