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Nigeria welcomes talks on oil thefts

Rebels belonging to the Niger Delta Volunteer Force patrol the creeks near Abonema in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria in a motorboat on Tuesday. This armed group, accused of trafficking in illegally extracted crude oil, has threatened to attack international oil facilities and personnel in the Niger Delta, a regional government spokesman said. PHOTO: EPA

The government of the southern Nigerian Rivers State yesterday welcomed peace talks between the Abuja authorities and the leader of a separatist movement fighting for the control of the country's oil wealth.

"It is a positive development. It will go a long way to further reduce tensions in the Niger Delta," government spokesman Emmanuel Okah told reporters.

Asked if he was optimistic a settlement could be reached to avert a new rebel offensive planned for today, rebel leader Mujahid Dokubo-Asari said: "The president has set no preconditions for the talks."

"We are due to meet today at 10am. We told them we are leaving today after the talks."

Mujahid Abubakar Dokubo Asari, leader of Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force (NDPVF) which has issued threats against foreign oil installations and workers, began a meeting with the Nigerian government in Abuja on Wednesday.

Asari claimed he met President Olusegun Obasanjo for two hours on Wednesday and another round of talks was scheduled for late in the evening.

Nigeria's Information Minister confirmed that talks were going on, but did not say if the rebel leader met Obasanjo personally.

Rivers government spokesman Okah told reporters Asari had "tested the will of Nigerian federal government by attempting to acquire part of its territory for illegal bunkering," a term used for the stealing of crude oil from pipelines and selling it off to buy arms and ammunition.

"We, in Rivers State, have no problems with the development. If Nigeria has chosen to talk with him, so be it," he said.

Asari leads a rebel group which says it is fighting for the rights of the impoverished ethnic Ijaw in the Niger Delta region, the center of the west African country's substantial oil industry.

The gang has been operating in Port Harcourt and its surrounding creeks, carrying out illegal bunkering to finance its armed struggle.

Some 500 people have died in gang violence in the past month in Port Harcourt, the hub of Nigeria's oil-rich Niger delta region, according to Amnesty International, but the government said only 13 were killed.

The government deployed troops to the region two weeks ago following fighting between two armed gangs for control of the area's illegal crude oil trafficking and stealing.

Asari on Monday asked multinational oil firms to leave their bases in the Niger Delta, but the military have declared a round-the-clock offensive to dislodge the gang from the region.
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