Nigerian army to halt fighting, rebels want meeting
By Austin Ekeinde
PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian security forces will observe a 60-day ceasefire in the Niger Delta under a federal amnesty programme which four rebel factions said on Friday they may be willing to take part in.
President Umaru Yar'Adua on Thursday offered a presidential pardon to gunmen in the Niger Delta from August 6 to October 4 to try to end years of unrest which have cost the OPEC member billions of dollars in lost revenue.
"(Security forces) will observe a ceasefire and respect all the terms of the amnesty. But if we are attacked, we will respond," Air Chief Marshall Paul Dike, chief of defense staff, told reporters in Nigeria's capital Abuja.
The military last month launched its biggest offensive against rebels in the Niger Delta, bombarding militant camps from the air and sea and sending three battalions of soldiers.
Four Nigerian rebel factions said they wanted to first meet Yar'Adua to "reach a consensus" on the amnesty programme and ways to move forward in developing the Niger Delta, home to Africa's largest oil and gas sector.
"We accept peace as encapsulated in the said offer of amnesty," representatives of militant leaders Ateke Tom, Soboma George, Farah Dagogo and Boy Loaf told a news conference in Nigeria's oil hub Port Harcourt.
"Depending on the outcome of the said meeting, the leaders will then announce when they will begin to hand over the arms and ammunitions in their possession to the federal government."
HENRY OKAH AMNESTY
The four groups, who have close links to the main militant group the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), said they also wanted the government to release suspected rebel leader Henry Okah who is on trial for gun-running and treason.
A presidential spokesman said Okah, who was arrested in Angola in September 2007 and extradited to Nigeria five months later, would be freed if he took the amnesty offer.
As a courtesy, Yar'Adua will send a delegation to Angola in the next few days to inform President Jose Eduardo dos Santos about the clemency offer.
"Henry Okah will be offered the amnesty after the president has sent the envoy to Angola," said Yar'Adua spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi. "If (Okah) accepts, he will be released."
The formal amnesty programme will not begin until early August because time was needed to establish centers and train personnel for the disarmament, education and rehabilitation of the militants. The government estimates as many as 20,000 militants and criminals could participate.
Some 15 amnesty centres were planned in Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and other southern states in the Niger Delta.
Gunmen wanting to give up their weapons before August can do so at police stations throughout the Niger Delta. The government said it would not offer a buy-back programme.
(Additional reporting by Felix Onuah and Camillus Eboh; Writing by Randy Fabi; Editing by Nick Tattersall)
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