Fresh killings in Rivers � Federal troops observe ceasefire
Ibanga Isine with agency report
Despite the cessation of hostilities by the two main militia groups in Rivers State, fresh violence broke out at the weekend in Ke, an Ijaw community in the state.
According to Agence France Presse reports on Monday, many people were feared dead in the violence allegedly carried out by a yet-to-be identified militia group.
�A yet to be identified armed gang invaded the village and killed several people. The report was brought to our base but we could not act on it,� AFP quoted a senior member of the Joint Task Force patrolling the Niger-Delta as saying.
The Niger-Delta Peoples Volunteer Force led by Alhaji Asari Dokubo and Tom Ateke�s Niger-Delta Vigilance have distanced themselves from the killings.
�Neither our group nor Ateke�s was involved. It was an internal dispute in the village,� said Edipade Colombus, the commander of NDPVF.
He added, �We heard the report of the incident while we were addressing a rally at Amadi-Ama yesterday (Sunday) and we are sending a delegation to the place this morning (Monday) to investigate the matter.
�As law-abiding citizens, we will continue to comply with the Abuja ceasefire agreement unless the other group breaks it.�
Colombus spoke minutes after JTF announced that it was observing a ceasefire in the Niger-Delta.
Dokubo and Ateke had after talks with President Olusegun Obasanjo promised to stop hostilities pending the outcome of further discussions with Abuja on October 8.
They arrived in Port Harcourt on Sunday hours after the State Governor, Dr. Peter Odili, announced amnesty for them and other leaders of militia groups if they order their followers to turn in their arms.
But as news of the fresh killings spread, JTF said that it had ceased operations in the Niger-Delta following the peace deal brokered by The Presidency.
�I will not say we have suspended operations, but we have been asked as you say in the military to observe a marking time or simply put, hold up action,� Captain Onyeama Kanu, spokesman for the JTF told AFP.
�What this implies is that we will remain where we are, but have to be vigilant as we continue to monitor the situation,� he explained.
The government deployed troops in the region early last month to end the gang violence in Rivers State.
While indications emerged on Monday that the truce brokered by The Presidency might not last, the Rivers State Government said the peace process was on course.
Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Emma Okah, said the government had initiated practical moves to implement a four-point peace agenda propounded by Obasanjo.
The agendas are: resolution of the differences and reconciliation between Ateke, and other militia group leaders; resolution of differences and reconciliation between Dokubo and others; resolution of chieftaincy issues in Okrika Local Government Area; as well as encouragement of reconciliation on chieftaincy issues in Kalabari Kingdom.
Okah said that a progress report would be presented to the President on Friday when further talks among the warring factions in the state would resume.
Obasanjo was said to have mandated Odili to personally spearhead the implementation of the four-point agenda, and report back on Friday.
Okah disclosed that before the next meeting on Friday, the governor would have set up a judicial panel of inquiry that would unravel the immediate and remote causes of the clashes.
He also said that the governor would set up a special peace committee on the crisis to assist in rehabilitating the victims.
But some ethnic and civil society groups in the state have distanced themselves from the peace process.
The groups include the Chikoko Movement; Congress for Liberation of Ikwerre People; Civil Liberties Organisation, South-South zone; Rivers Coalition; Public Interest Lawyers League; Egi Ethnic Coalition, and Bonny Indigenous Guide.
The organisations, after an emergency meeting in Port Harcourt on Monday, said that communities and groups in the Niger-Delta were not bound by the Abuja peace deal.
They said, �The signatories to the Abuja agreement are not representatives of the entire organisations of the people of the Niger-Delta. Neither did they consult with other groups in reaching the agreement.
�We restate our commitment to the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference as one peaceful option to the resolution of the crisis in Nigeria characterised by state failure, institutionalisation of violence and mass impoverishment.�
Meanwhile, Ateke has said that his group had surrendered its arms to the government.
�We surrendered all the weapons in our possession to the Rivers State Government long before the Abuja peace talks,� Ateke, told AFP in his Okrika hometown on Monday.
�We have disarmed. There is no more fighting. We are men of peace. In fact, we need the peace more than anybody,� he said, accompanied by a retinue of aides and dozens of supporters.
Ateke said his group had also reached out to Dokubo.
�Asari is my brother. He is Ijaw, I am Ijaw. We are fighting for the same cause. It is just that we misunderstood ourselves,� he said.
�Everything is over now. I have told my boys to embrace him when they see him,� he added.
