Nigeria - Niger Delta amnesty

Niger Delta fighters surrender in amnesty deal

Article published on the 2009-10-04 Latest update 2009-10-04 16:15 TU

Weapons surrendered by former fighters at a collection centre in Port Harcourt, 3 October 2009
(Photo: Reuters)

Thousands of fighters in the Niger Delta along with three top leaders surrendered to the Nigerian government Sunday, ahead of a midnight deadline to disarm in exchange for amnesty. Many from of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) rushed to the capital, Abuja, to pledge their loyalty to President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.

"We are surrendering all weapons under our direct control," said Farah Dagogo, a senior commander, in a statement. He surrendered his weapons in Port Harcourt, the main city in the Niger Delta

Ateke Tom, the leader of the Niger Delta Vigilante, an ethnic Ijaw militia group, disarmed at a beach ceremony with about 5,000 fighters; and Government Ekpemupolo, known as Tompolo, accepted amnesty in a meeting with Yar’Adua late Saturday.

The government announced the amnesty deal in June to restart oil exports from the Niger Delta. Fighters took up arms in 2006, demanding a more equal distribution of the country’s oil wealth.

The government has pledged to develop the area.

“Amnesty is not an end to itself,” said Yar’Adua, adding that the goal is to develop the region, which will bring peace and stability, and “ensure that each and every one of them has a career and livelihood that he will be proud of himself and his family, proud of his country and proud that he is a Nigerian”

Tajudeen Akanji of the Centre for Conflict and Peace Studies at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria says there the amnesty is not an end to the problems in the Niger Delta.

“You can’t say that those [militants] who have come out are representing the entire group of militants that we have,” he told RFI, explaining that the fighters are spread around the region, and not centralised.

“Evidence has shown that there are different groups that are not known, because the Niger delta is spread across a wide expanse of land in Nigeria,” said Akanji. “So the government cannot say that they have been able to get to all of them entirely.”

Mend itself has said that it has replaced its command structure, and will not surrender.

For those who have laid down arms, the government now needs to make good on its promises.

"If they refuse to develop our region we will go back to the creeks," warned Tom.

“I see the amnesty as the beginning of good things if… the intention, at the beginning is followed to the letter,” said Akanji. “But that does not mean the end to the problem that we have on the ground.”