The block is a little less hot in the Niger delta region after Government Tompolo of the Federated Niger Delta Ijaw Communities accepted a disarmament treaty and pledged his support for president Umaru Yar'Adua in return for an unconditional pardon. From Al Jazeera:
Tompolo was one of the leaders of the Federated Niger Delta Ijaw Communities (FNDIC), which was responsible for shutting down a large amount of oil output from the western delta in 2003.
"We came because we want peace," Chief Andrew Anegba, a traditional Ijaw ethnic community leader, said as he waited for Tompolo at Warri airport."The last militant groups are giving up arms, and that means peace is coming back."
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Mend, which dismissed the amnesty as a charade, said it has replaced its military command…The rebels, who say they are fighting for a fairer distribution of the region's wealth, launched repeated attacks on oil infrastructure and government forces across the delta causing a slump in production.
Despite Nigeria's oil riches, the vast majority of its 140 million people live on $2 a day or less, and some of the most acute poverty is in the villages of the delta.