One of the biggest militant groups in Nigeria’s volatile Niger Delta, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has announced an indefinite ceasefire in the Niger Delta region.
MEND said in an online statement to journalists signed by its spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, on Sunday that “There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven…a time to tear and a time to mend.’’
MEND said in the statement that on October 20, 2009, the Nigerian government expressed its readiness to engage in serious and meaningful dialogue with every group or individual towards achieving a lasting peace in the Niger Delta.
“This welcome shift in position conveyed to the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) by Mr. Henry Okah after his meeting with President Umaru Yar’dua on Monday, October 19, 2009, indicated the willingness of the government to negotiate with the MEND team.
“To encourage the process of dialogue between the government and the team that MEND has selected to negotiate its demands for a lasting peace in the Niger Delta region, an indefinite ceasefire has been ordered.
“The Aaron Team has been modified with the exit of Ms. Annkio Briggs by mutual consent.
“She has been replaced as the group’s liaison officer with immediate effect, by Mr. Amagbe Denzel Kentebe,’’ the statement added.
Many of the militant groups in the Niger Delta had embraced the amnesty of the Nigerian government and there has been relative peace in the region in the past few weeks.
Source African Press Agency
