Nigeria's main militant group on Monday declared an indefinite cease-fire to encourage dialogue with the government, a spokesman of the group said.
Following a meeting between Nigeria's President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and leader of main militant group, Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), Henry Okah recently, the group has announced an indefinite ceasefire.
"Government of Nigeria expressed its readiness to engage in serious and meaningful dialogue with every group or individual towards achieving a lasting peace in the Niger Delta," the group said in a statement.
Asked by PTI what it thinks of the meeting between its leader and Yar’Adua, the group said: "MEND sees the meeting as a welcome and positive development that should lead to meaningful dialogue on the root issues responsible for the regions unrest."
The group’s spokesman Gbomo Jomo said in a press statement that the government's position was conveyed to them by Okah after his meeting with the president.
Indications that the group was about softening its stance came in an earlier exclusive email to PTI in which it accepted the recent meeting as positive.
The militant group which had earlier issued a ceasefire and extended it later announced the end to such process on the October 16 even after the government had made an amnesty offer to all the groups fighting in the region.
{{/usCountry}}The militant group which had earlier issued a ceasefire and extended it later announced the end to such process on the October 16 even after the government had made an amnesty offer to all the groups fighting in the region.
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