WARRI, 17 December 2010 (IRIN) - As families count the cost of another
military operation against militants in the Niger Delta, analysts say
up to now government efforts to quell violence are hampered by
corruption and fail to get at the deep-seated causes of unrest in the
region.
Residents told IRIN hundreds of families are still displaced more than
two weeks after the crackdown.
According to the military's Joint Task Force (JTF), the 1 December
attack by its troops on the village of Ayakoromor, 50km south of
Warri, was a planned operation, targeting suspected criminals. But the
Red Cross says thousands of people fled, many taking refuge in swamps,
then heading to nearby villages.
Displaced families spokesperson Joseph Osibo said at least 10 people
were killed in the JTF attack. The military has acknowledged some
civilian deaths. "Eight soldiers and six civilians were killed," said
Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Onyeabo Ihejirika. He said the civilians
were caught in the crossfire.
Civil society and human rights activists say as long as the Nigerian
authorities do not achieve a long-term solution to unrest and
criminality in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, local communities will
continue to suffer the fallout. They say a 2009 government amnesty
programme, while a potentially positive step, will not resolve the
longstanding causes of the Niger Delta conflict. [
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportID=88906 ]
The vast wetlands region sits atop more than 30 billion barrels of
top-grade oil and substantial gas deposits, but it is one of the most
impoverished regions in Nigeria, according to the UN Development
Programme.
"Unless the government addresses the political and financial
corruption - at both the state and federal level - that has robbed the
people of their right to health, education and the development of
their region, the anger that drives militancy and criminality will
continue," Eric Guttschuss, Human Rights Watch's Nigeria researcher,
told IRIN. [ http://www.hrw.org/africa/nigeria ]
A local human rights activist said corruption is rife in the amnesty
programme, with planned government assistance falling short, despite
available funds.
Under the government scheme, from August to October 2009 militants
could turn over their arms in return for training, employment
assistance and a government pardon.
"The crisis will continue until the government [eradicates] the
corruption in the amnesty programme," Sir Casely Omon-Ihabor, chair of
Human Rights Defenders Organization of Nigeria, told IRIN, calling the
programme "a monument of fraud".
Health
Displaced families' spokesman Osibo said their main concern is medical
care. "We don't want disease outbreaks among the displaced."
The Nigerian Red Cross has provided first aid, set up clinics and
provided medicines at Ogbe'Ijaw Hospital mainly for women and children
who have sought refuge there, according to a 14 December statement by
the International Committee of the Red Cross. [
http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/news-release/2010/nigeria-news-2010-12-14.htm
]
The medical assistance from Red Cross is welcome but it's not enough,
displaced mother of five Joy Lucky said. "The federal government must
come to our aid as soon as possible or prepare to fill 5,000 caskets."
IRIN film: Forced to flee [http://www.irinnews.org/Film/?id=4107 ]
hu/np/cs[END]
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