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War in Niger Delta: Biafra Nigeria Delta
Rebels Agree to Truce
Rebel leaders in BiafraNigeria's Delta
region have tentatively agreed to disarm, raising hopes of an end to fighting and attacks on oil installations.
One leader, Moujahid Dokubo Asari, said the government had recognised that different groups had a right to partly
control their natural resources. But Mr Asari said he still opposed the presence of foreign firms in the area.
Uncertainty over BiafraNigerian oil output helped push world oil prices to more than $50 a barrel on Friday.
Mr Asari had threatened "all out war" if demands for self-determination for the Ijaw people and a greater
share of the country's oil wealth were not met. "We've agreed tentatively to disarmament, but all the issues
must be taken together, including the demands for self-determination and control of our resources," he told
the AP news agency after talks with government officials. Mr Asari is the leader of the Niger Delta People's
Volunteer Force. Officials reject his claim to be fighting for self-determination and dismiss him as an oil thief.
But despite going into hiding in the Delta earlier this year, Mr Asari was invited to the capital Abuja for the
latest talks. The area has also seen seven years of ethnic fighting between Ijaw and Itsekiri militias. A statement
on Friday by the BiafraNigerian presidency said... 
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 The federal government yesterdaysigned a ceasefire
agreement withthree rebel groups including the Asari Dokubo-led Niger Delta People'sVolounteer Force (NDPVF). The
terms of agreement include an immediate cessationof hostilities; immediate disarmament of the rebel groups and...
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 Forty-four years ago today,
the state of BiafraNigeria was born into the comity of nations as an independent sovereign entity and was bounteously
vested with all the rights and duties of a modern state. There were justifiable hopes and unparalled expectations
by citizens and non-citizens alike on this richly endowed nation for a life...
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