Avengers

During a visit to Kenya over the weekend, President Buhari said that the federal government was open to discussions helping resolve the issue of militancy in the Niger Delta, which accounts for the majority of Nigeria’s oil production. But Buhari said he was doubtful that the militants had announced a ceasefire, according to his spokesman Garba Shehu, who stated. “We are trying to understand them more, who are their leaders and which areas do they operate [in] and other relevant issues.”

The Nigerian president is also reported to have threatened militant groups in the Delta that they will be dealt with in the same manner as Boko Haram if they refuse a dialogue with the government, according to Nigeria’s Premium Times. Nigeria and neighboring countries in West Africa have conducted an extensive military operation against the Islamist militant group, which has seen Boko Haram lose much of its territory inside Nigeria.

Nigeria’s military said on Saturday that it had launched a fresh operation in the region, killing five militants and arresting 23. The operation was aimed at “getting rid of all forms of criminal activities,” according to Nigerian Army spokesman Sani Usman, Reuters reported. There was no immediate response from the militant groups.

The Niger Delta has seen several uprisings— including in the mid-2000s by a group called the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND)—by groups demanding a greater share of Nigeria’s oil wealth for the impoverished region. MEND has said previously that it is assisting the government in negotiating an end to the current crisis.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta started talks with Nigeria’s government, even as another militant group claimed to have blown up a pipeline in the oil-rich region.

The negotiations “will seek to find solutions to the short, medium and long-term future of the Niger Delta region,” MEND spokesman Jomo Gbomo said Sunday in an e-mailed statement. While Nigeria’s presidency said on July 21 it’s talking to militants, that doesn’t appear to include the Niger Delta Avengers, the rebels claiming responsibility for the attacks on oil infrastructure this year.

♦ MEND talks may be strategy to bring in other groups: Vetiva

♦ Niger Delta Avengers claim to have blown up pipeline on Sunday

The Avengers, who in February shattered a seven-year peace with a campaign of sabotage that’s cut crude output and starved the government of revenue, late Sunday said they blew up a gas pipeline belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. The statement on the group’s website couldn’t be verified. The Avengers say they want a greater share of the wealth that oil companies extract from their native lands to be spent on local schools, hospitals and other essential services.

“The Avengers have proved difficult to engage,” Pabina Yinkere, head of research at Vetiva Capital Management Ltd., said by phone from Lagos. “The government has made several attempts to dialogue with the Avengers but we are yet to hear of any successful discussions. The move to dialogue with MEND could be a strategy to bring in the Avengers and other fringe groups.”

The Avengers said it hit a gas pipeline owned by the state-oil company in the Nsit-Ibom area. That follows NNPC’s appeal on July 21 to the Nigerian military to improve security in the delta region.

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