Confusion reigns over Nigerian peace talks after mixed messages from the Nigerian militant group Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) over whether it is ready to enter into dialogue with the government to end attacks on oil installations that have ravaged Nigerian oil output.
A self-acclaimed spokesman for the group, Ballantyne Agiri, said Wednesday that the NDA is now ready for talks with the government to end the violence, but this was dismissed on the rebel group's twitter handle.
"We are not going into any peace or dialogue talk," NDA spokesman Mudoch Agbinibo said, denying Agiri was representing the group. "That report is not from us. We are not in any form of dialogue agreement with anybody. It's like the government wants to dialogue with themselves."
Agiri was a former director in the ministry of the Niger Delta Commission created in 2008 to fast track development in the oil producing region.
Attacks on Nigeria's oil and gas infrastructure have increased at an alarming pace this year, slashing production to 1.5 million b/d from 2.2 million b/d, the country's oil minister Emmanuel Kachikwu said late Monday.
The NDA, which has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks, had previously said it would not participate in any negotiations with the government unless foreign countries including the US, the UK and France, agree to mediate.
Kachikwu, speaking to CNN in an interview, adopted a cautious tone, admitting that such a "difficult" period was likely to last for a few months before a solution was found as talks with militants continued.
"I am hoping that over the [next] one to two months we will find some final solution that will bring production up, but once we have done that the reality is that we have lost quite a lot of months," he said.
Four of Nigeria's main export crude grades -- Qua Iboe, Bonny Light, Brass River and Forcados -- are currently on force majeure, with more than 700,000 b/d of production affected.
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The uncertainty comes on the heels of a planned meeting of the ethnic Ijaw community leaders in the Niger Delta region aimed at ending unrest and attacks on oil installations.
The meeting billed for Friday is akin to similar talks convened by the leaders in 2009 that produced a blueprint, which helped ended the violence then unleashed by militant group the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).
"The all-encompassing meeting billed to be held on Friday [in southern] Warri, will be attended my incumbent governors, ex-governors, traditional rulers, politicians and ex-ministers, among others," ethnic Ijaw leader Edwin Clark said in a statement Wednesday.
MEND, which staged a violent campaign against the Nigerian oil industry between 2006 and 2009 that reduced the country's oil output to below 1 million b/d, said it was no longer involved in attacking oil targets. New militant groups have emerged lately in the region.
