Word: delta
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...brief weeks this autumn, there were hopes that the long-running civil war in the Niger Delta in southeastern Nigeria might finally be coming to an end. President Umaru Mousa Yar'Adua announced an amnesty deal for rebels and promised billions of dollars of investment in the poor but oil-rich delta, a 10% stake for the local population in the region's oil ventures and a small monthly stipend and re-training for ex-fighters. In return, thousands of militants declared a ceasefire and handed in their weapons, while their leaders initiated talks with the government on an eventual...
...solution looked possible because Nigeria's government was finally conceding that the rebels' demands - increased development and the environmental repair of the delta - were justified. "The militants are not asking for anything unusual or extraordinary," Defense Minister Godwin Abbe told TIME at his offices in the capital Abuja earlier this month. Just as significant, a petroleum industry bill was also introduced promising greater transparency in a notoriously opaque business - a sign the government was willing to crack down on the kind of corruption that has served Nigeria so badly, fueling unrest not only in the delta but the north...
...imports, according to the EIA. But in recent years, rebel attacks on oil targets - blowing up pipelines and kidnapping foreign oil workers - have cut Nigeria's production by as much as a third and regularly caused the world price of crude to spike. Peace in the delta would mean more reliable supplies of oil and cheaper prices at the pump...
...negotiating a truce with the rebels have been out of action for weeks. Yar'Adua, a chain smoker with chronic health problems, has been in Saudi Arabia for nearly a month receiving treatment for pericarditis, an inflammation around the heart. In addition, the President's special adviser on Niger Delta affairs, Timi Alaibe, the key middleman who brought the militants to the table, has been in London for his own medical treatment since early October. The absence of the two men has caused negotiations to stall just as the insurgency's leaders are under the most pressure from their rank...
Disunity among the rebels is the second reason for pessimism. In the last few years, most of the militants have operated as part of a loose alliance called the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), led by a former businessman named Henry Okah. Then, in September 2007, Okah was imprisoned on charges of treason, terrorism, illegal possession of firearms and arms trafficking. Since his release in July, he has fallen out with other guerrilla leaders...