A militia group in the Niger Delta region, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) yesterday announced that it has called off its armed attacks on oil pipelines and facilities in the region following the offer of dialogue presented by President Goodluck Jonathan in his Democracy Day speech to the Nation.
According to MEND, “though past attempts to dialogue with the Federal Government were met with insincerity and disappointments,” the decision by the group to call off its armed campaign tagged ‘Hurricane Exodus’ is conditional and with cautious optimism,
MEND, in a statement issued yesterday by its spokesperson, Gbomo Jomo, “Our attention was drawn to your olive branch where you said “Our doors remain open to them, (aggrieved armed groups) for dialogue and reconciliation if they renounce terrorism (armed struggle) and embrace peace.”
“The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has been disappointed in the past with government’s insincerity. Instead of addressing our concerns and dialogue on the root issues that led us to take up arms, your government, based on bad advisers, arrogantly jettisoned dialogue with our negotiation delegates, the Aaron Team in 2009, arrested and incarcerated perceived critics.
“Since that slight, your government has known no peace from our region in spite of billions poured into propaganda and security. This slight was also responsible for the Independence Day attack of October 01, 2010, carried out to counter the impression that MEND has ceased to exist just because a few greedy, short-sighted and misguided elements within and outside our ranks chose to betray their people.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment