MEND Declares Cease Fire

Nigeria's main militant group has declared a cease-fire in the southern oil region after a week of stepped-up attacks on the military and oil infrastructure.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta says it will cease hostilities immediately after appeals from elders and politicians in the region where fighting has flared over the past week.

The group said Sunday in a statement it would launch another spate of reprisal attacks in the event of another military raid on one of the group's base camps. A military operation on Sept. 14 prompted the latest surge in violence.

(AP)

Nigeria's main militant group began a unilateral ceasefire on Sunday after a week of clashes with the military and attacks on oil installations which have cut output in Africa's top producer.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) launched strikes against pipelines, flow stations and other oil and gas facilities last Sunday in response to what it said were ground and air strikes by the military against one of its bases.

"We decided to 'stop outside Baghdad' even at a time of victory over the military and utter helplessness of the oil companies," the group said in an e-mailed statement.

"Effective 0100 hours (0000 GMT) September 21, exactly one week after we launched our reprisal, MEND will begin a unilateral ceasefire till further notice."

Nigerian government officials have said production has fallen by 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) over the past week, and estimate the country's current output at 1.95 million bpd.

MEND said it had taken the decision after a plea by elders but warned it would restart its campaign if it came under attack from the security forces. It also warned that other groups aligned with it may not respect the ceasefire.

A spokesman for the joint military taskforce (JTF) which polices the Niger Delta cautiously welcomed MEND's announcement but said the group must demonstrate it could keep its word.

"We will continue to carefully and firmly monitor the situation, and exercise some level of restraint until their declaration is seen to have been actualised," Lieutenant-Colonel Sagir Musa told Reuters.

"We are hoping it will not be another tactical deception which we have already prepared to contend," he said.

MEND has announced ceasefires in the past but subsequently relaunched attacks, claiming provocation by the security forces or by the government.

PRODUCTION IMPACT

MEND has carried out at least six attacks in as many days over the past week, its most intense campaign for years against the world's eighth biggest oil exporter.
Royal Dutch Shell, the company hardest hit by the violence, declared a force majeure on shipments of Bonny Light, a type of crude oil, effective from Friday. Force majeure is a contractual clause invoked by suppliers when they cannot meet their obligations due to events beyond their control.

Such intensity of attacks across the eastern Niger Delta, a vast network of mangrove creeks, has made assessing the impact difficult as engineers scramble to investigate exactly how much production has been hit in each location.

Shell -- which operates onshore in Nigeria in a joint venture with state run oil firm NNPC -- has given no figures.

Oil workers' union PENGASSAN accused the government of a "lacklustre" approach to reaching a permanent ceasefire in the region and warned that Angola -- which vies with Nigeria for the position of Africa's top producer -- would soon eclipse it.

"Because of the protracted crisis ... Angola has become the alternative haven of oil investors," it said in a statement.

The militants say they want greater development and a better living environment after decades of neglect in the delta. But the unrest is fuelled by a lucrative trade in stolen oil worth millions of dollars a day.

Security experts say the region will never be stable unless an alternative source of income can be found for the gunmen, businessmen, politicians and international shippers all taking their slice of the illegal profits.

(Reuters)