Nigeria: Talks on the cards

2004-09-30 10:39

Abuja - The leader of militia fighters threatening to widen a battle for control of Nigeria's oil-rich south said he has agreed to a tentative deal with President Olusegun Obasanjo to end fighting in Africa's leading petroleum exporter that has riled global oil markets.

"The president has given an express understanding that no troops will attack our people. And as long as they don't attack, we won't attack," Moujahid Dokubo-Asari, who heads the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force, said on Wednesday.

Dokubo-Asari, who claims direct control of 2 000 ethnic Ijaw fighters and the loyalty of tens of thousands more, threatened on Tuesday to widen his campaign for control of the nation's southern Niger Delta region.

His threats to target foreign oil firms and their international workers starting Friday, Nigeria's 44th anniversary of independence from Britain, helped send crude-oil prices to historic highs - over $50 per barrel in global markets - on Tuesday.

Watching the situation

Information Minister Chukwuemeka Chikelu confirmed Dokubo-Asari was in Abuja as part of government efforts to prevent deterioration of the security situation in the Nigeria Delta region, where the lion's share of Nigeria's 2.5 million barrels of oil are pumped daily.

Dokubo-Asari said a government plane had flown him to Abuja from the oil city of Port Harcourt.

He described the talks as "very cordial" but stressed that no permanent deal had been reached. He said that he hoped further talks would enable both sides "to arrive at something definite."

Nigeria, a member of OPEC, is Africa's leading oil producer and exporter, the world's seventh-largest crude exporter and fifth-largest source of United States oil imports.

A military spokesperson called Dokubo-Asari's earlier threats "empty" and independent analysts questioned whether his militia could match one of Africa's best-equipped militaries. Major oil companies played down the warnings, saying the threats wouldn't seriously affect exports and no staff would be ordered to pull out.

Warnings

Dokubo-Asari said Wednesday he could cancel his threatened offensive if talks succeeded - but offered dire warnings if he was arrested.

"If we don't reach an agreement we'll go back to where we stopped and continue the fight," he said. "If they don't let me go, what about the other boys in the creeks? They will get cracking."

Dokubo-Asari is seen as a folk hero by many poor residents of the southern delta region who complain they have never shared in the country's vast oil wealth.

Dokubo-Asari claims to be fighting for self-determination in the region and greater control over oil resources.

- AP