A delta of great contention.

With the Nigerian exchequer dependent on a bullish global oil market for 95% of foreign exchange, a peaceful Niger Delta region--from which the country's oil and gas exports originate--is central to Nigeria's economic health. But the troubles in the Delta have refused to go away. Osasu Obayiuwana reports.

FOR YEARS, OIL TERMINALS, RIGS, and pipelines in the Niger Delta have been under incessant attack by militants who are demanding economic justice For the largely impoverished people of the Niger Delta. As a result, the treasury's flow of petrodollars has been severely cut. Despite having an installed export capacity of over 3 million barrels a day, Shell, Exxon-Mobil, Chevron and the other oil conglomerates that operate in the Delta are struggling to reach production levels of 30%.

The drastic decline in foreign exchange as well as the high level of insecurity in the troubled region, which has done huge damage to the country's international image, has now compelled President Musa Yar'Adua's government to offer the militant groups in the region an amnesty, which he hopes will bring the low-intensity war to an end.

When he signed the amnesty proclamation on 25 June, Yar'Adua granted an "unconditional pardon to all persons who have directly or indirectly participated in the commission of offences associated with militant activities in the Niger Delta." The militants are expected to surrender and hand over "all equipment, weapons, arms and ammunition" in order to qualify for the amnesty, which was extended to those already being tried, including Henry Okah, leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).

Okah, who was captured during a sting operation in Angola, had been on trial for treason in the Federal High Court in the northern Nigerian city of Jos before he was freed on 13 July, after Attorney-General Michael Aondoakaa--on the orders of Yar'Adua--ended Okah's trial.

Yar'Adua's amnesty, however, did not herald the immediate cessation of hostilities, as MEND launched a surprising three-hour attack on the Atlas Cove Jetty in Lagos on 12 July, crippling the capacity of the facility to receive vital oil supplies. The attack, said to be part of MEND's "Hurricane Moses" offensive, was the first time the group had carried out a strike outside the Niger Delta.

A week before the Lagos incident, MEND had also blown up the Okan Manifold belonging to Chevron, taking out a large chunk of the American company's offshore oil output in Nigeria, as well as taking six foreigners hostage.

MEND is sceptical about the government's sincerity in reaching a settlement in the Niger Delta, and its spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, said they had "opted for a two-pronged approach of combining dialogue with intensifying attacks throughout the course of negotiations [with the government]." But a few days later, in a dramatic twist of events, MEND announced that it would observe a 60-day ceasefire, starting from 15 July, in response to the release of Okah.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The storm before the 'truce'

The scepticism of MEND and other armed groups towards the amnesty is largely informed by the government's decision to authorise a military strike in the Niger Delta, weeks before the June amnesty offer. Following the "ambush" and "murder" of soldiers on "routine escort duties around Chanomi Creek (in Delta State)" on 13 May, a Joint Task Force (JTF)--made up of a combined army, navy and air force team--was authorised by Yar'Adua "to restore law and order to the region".

Vice-President Jonathan Goodluck and the governor of Delta State, Emmanuel Uduaghan, were reportedly kept in the dark about the military plans, in a bid to forestall any operational delay that their objections would have engendered.

"No responsible military leadership will fold its arms and watch its personnel being attacked and killed while on an official assignment, by a criminal gang. Hence, the military was left with no choice than to go after these criminals," said Colonel Chris Jemitola, director of defence information. On 22 May, the JTF launched an attack in Gbaramatu Kingdom in Delta State in an attempt to flush out the militants. Parliamentarians who come from the Niger Delta, as well as NGOs and other civil society groups that monitored the military incursion, insist that old men, women and children were slaughtered by the government troops.

James Manager, who represents Warri South in the Nigerian Senate, spoke candidly about his outrage during a heated debate in parliament. "The [military] attack has been indiscriminate, that is the crux of the matter. Old men, women and children ... are all being affected ... How do we protect these people?" he asked on 20 May, adding: "Between 14 and 17 May, communities in the oil-rich Gbaramatu clan were heavily bombarded by the Nigerian military--from air, land and sea ... Old men, pregnant women, nursing mothers and children have died helplessly."

A day earlier, the lower house of the National Assembly, the House of Representatives, had held a debate on the military operations in the Niger Delta, and it was no less fierce. There was a sharp division between MPs from the Niger Delta, who called for an immediate cessation of hostilities in the region, and MPs from other parts of the country, who supported the military action--which has since been officially suspended.

The comments of Bala Ibn Na'Allah, a ruling party (PDP) MP from Kebbi State, caused a storm. He said if 20 million Niger Deltans had to be gotten rid of for the other 120 million Nigerians to have peace, "so be it".

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Although Na'Allah later described his intemperate remarks as a "joke", it was a comic act completely lost on Daemi Kunaiyi-Akpanah, an MP from the Niger Delta. "It was an unfortunate and insensitive remark," Kunaiyi-Akpanah told New African. "Na'Allah was called to order for the remark but the damage had already been done. When we are dealing with an internal security problem, when innocent lives are considered as 'collateral damage', we have to do everything in our power to protect these people."

The Speaker of the House, Dimeji Bankole, supported Yar'Adua's decision to launch the military attack, describing it as "a peacekeeping option that could restore peace to the region". Over 3,000 people were said to have been displaced by the operation, with some living in the creeks in the delta.

Issues of law

The constitutionality of the military operation in Gbaramatu and other parts of the Niger Delta, such as Bayelsa and Rivers States, without recourse to parliament, has been the subject of debate by lawyers.

Section 217 2(c) of Nigeria's 1999 Constitution says: "The Federation shall, subject to an act of the National Assembly made in that behalf, equip and maintain the armed forces as may be considered adequate and effective for the purpose of suppressing insurrection and acting in aid of civil authorities to restore order when called upon to do so by the President bur subject to such conditions as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly ... "

While both arms of the National Assembly passed, after heated debates, resolutions supporting the military action--with Niger Delta MPs in both houses fiercely opposing them--the legislative branch did not prescribe any rules of engagement to meet the test of Section 217 2(c).

The legal force of Yar'Adua's amnesty proclamation has also become a subject of fierce contention, as it has not been backed by the enactment of any Act to codify the amnesty and specifically name the beneficiaries.

Lawyers such as Femi Falana, who represented Henry Okah during his now-aborted treason trial, argue that a constitutional "prerogative of mercy" would have provided better protection for his client, and claims that the attorney general still has the option to resume Okah's prosecution if found politically expedient in the future.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The Niger Delta (comprising of Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo and Rivers States) has produced the bulk of Nigeria's oil income for nearly 50 years. Sadly, the people living in this area have seen few or no benefits from the billions of dollars generated from the oil exports. For many in the region, environmental degradation has been the unwelcome legacy that has accompanied oil production, which started with the discovery of Nigeria's first oil well in Oloibiri in 1958. Repeated oil spillages and gas flaring have polluted the region's farmlands and rivers. This has consequently embittered the people, who feel that the country's political elite cares nothing for their plight.

With the wealth of Nigeria coming from the lands of minority nationalities who lack the political clout to fight for their interests, in a country where the Hausas, Yorubas and Igbos--the three major ethnicities--are politically dominant, there is a high level of distrust between the minority and majority ethnic groups in the country. Ken Saro-Wiwa's international fight for the rights of the Ogoni people led to his execution by General Sani Abacha's government in November 1995. Following the return of democratic government in 1999, President Olusegun Obasanjo's government made some effort to address the injustice that had been meted out to the people of the Niger Delta, with the establishment of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), which was to be the vehicle through which to develop the region.

But with insufficient funds from the federal government and bureaucratic wrangling, the NDDC has been unable to meet the yearnings of the people, some of whom subsequently opted for armed confrontation with the government, as they saw it as the only way to secure a better deal. The "hit and run" tactics adopted by the militants have done untold damage to the country's oil-exporting capacity over the last five years. While the militants claim their sole purpose for fighting is to ensure that the rights and basic human needs of Niger Deltans are recognised and taken care of, there are some who have taken advantage of the insecurity in the region to engage in criminal acts.

This has, at times, made it difficult to distinguish between those who are fighting for a genuine political cause and the miscreants operating under the cover of the genuine grievances of the Niger Delta.

Before the June amnesty, President Yar'Adua had said the resolution of the Niger Delta conflict was a key part of his "seven-point" agenda for the country. He subsequently set up a Ministry for the Niger Delta, headed by Ufot Ekaette, which is supposed to co-ordinate the government's "Marshall Plan" for the area.

A team, led by the interior minister, Major-General (retired) Godwin Abbe, negotiated the amnesty details with lawyers representing MEND and other militant leaders. But some militant leaders, such as Mujahid Asari Dokubo, have thumbed their noses at the government's offer.

The amnesty expires on 4 October, and the government has threatened that anyone who refuses to accept it by that time will be treated as a criminal. But the key to the resolution of the crisis lies not in threats and the use of force but the ability of the government to honestly address the fundamental problems, lasting for nearly half a century, that have stoked the inferno in the Niger Delta.