A key community leader from Nigeria’s tense Delta oil-producing region called on militants on 5 November not to resume their attacks until they had further time to negotiate their demands with the government.
Chief Edwin Clark, who leads the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), which has been holding peace talks with the government since last year, called on the Niger Delta Avengers militant group to “be patient.”
The Avengers, whose attacks last year wrought havoc on the nation’s oil output, promised on 3 November a “brutish, brutal, and bloody” return to violence because they said they had “lost faith” in local leaders to get what they wanted from the government.
“This is not the time to resume hostilities,” Clark said in a statement issued by the Presidential Amnesty Programme. “It is true that the federal government has not been quite serious about the negotiations, but we are asking the Niger Delta Avengers to maintain the peace.”
He added that PANDEF was sending a delegation to meet the group’s leaders.