YENAGOA, Nigeria — A top militant leader and 1,000 fighters surrendered to the Nigerian government Saturday, turning in their weapons in the biggest hand-over since an amnesty began three weeks ago, but other fighters said attacks in the oil-rich Delta region will resume next month regardless.
The unrest has cut Nigeria's production by a million barrels a day, allowing Angola to overtake it as the continent's top oil producer. Officials hope the amnesty will allow them to increase production, but commanders in two of the Delta's three main states have not surrendered, and government control of the thousands of waterways remains tenuous. Major attacks in the Delta can make oil prices jump by more than a dollar a barrel.
Ebikabowei Victor Ben, the state commander for the region's biggest armed group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, and 25 commanders under his leadership delivered weapons to police overnight. Ben is better known as Gen. Boyloaf.
"We don't fight for money, we fight for development," he said Saturday, adding if the government fails this time, "the next generation to come will do things more bloody than we have."
The militants formally handed over their weapons in torrential rains to police and officials in Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa state.
But a spokesman for Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta announced the group would not participate in the amnesty.
"The charade witnessed in Bayelsa is not an indication of success but that of failure considering that the energy put into that event could have been better used in deliberating on the root issues," Jomo Gbomo said in a statement.
"Many of the boys who have received money today will at best squander it on material things and what happens next can best be left to the imagination," he said. "MEND will be compelled to resume with ferocious attacks on the oil industry at the end of our ceasefire on September 15, 2009, to prove that weapons being displayed are mostly governmentowned."
At the government-sponsored event Saturday, the movement's generals entered the park one by one, surroundedby hundreds of cheering, dancing supporters.
Some waved banners or wore matching T-shirts in red or yellow emblazoned with pictures of their commanders.
Two of the 16 speedboats reportedly handed over were on display beside boxes and buckets of bullets, more than 50machine guns, some 13 rocket launchers, explosives and hundreds of mostly old but serviceable rifles.
In a speech, Gen. Boyloaf apologized to families that lost members in the struggle.
"We have kept to our word to follow the part of peace," he said. "The government should on its own part keep to the bargain of promises made."
After his speech, Gen.
Boyloaf walked over to the Bayelsa state governor and the two embraced. Gen. Boyloaf took off his camouflage jacket to reveal a white T-shirt with "Peace is golden" written on it.
Gov. Timipre Sylva told the crowd the Nigerian government was working with the World Bank and USAID to create a system for the state to publish its income and expenditures on the Internet. Corruption andpoverty are key causes of the conflict.
"The conflict in the Niger Delta can only be sustainably solved by development," Sylva said. "The job begins now."
During a previous amnesty attempt in 2004, the government paid well over the market price for a collection of rusting assault rifles; the militants who handed in the arms used the cash to buy better weapons.
Timiebi Koripamo-Agary, a spokesman for the government's two-month amnesty campaign, insisted the administration had learned from past mistakes and was not paying for weapons this time.
"Instead, we are asking the boys what they want - to further their education, learn a trade, or take a microloan for a small business," she said, adding that some senior militants hadexpressed an interest in joining the oil and gas sector.
The men will receive an allowance of $13 a day during the amnesty period.
Then the costs of their education, new business or further training would be picked up by the government, which has set aside roughly $64 million for the payments - a fraction of the oil revenue lost because of militant attacks.
Front Section, Pages 14 on 08/23/2009