This dyad belongs to the conflict Nigeria: Niger Delta
Summary of conflict Nigeria: Niger Delta
During a brief period in 2004, violent clashes occurred between the NDPVF (the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force) and troops of the Nigerian government in the Nigeria Delta. NDPVF claims to represent the interests of the indigenous Ijaw population and to fight for the self-determination of the Niger Delta and resource control, referring to the oil exploitation in the region. The conflict has not been active since the signing of a ceasefire between the government and NDPVF the same year, 2004.
History of the region
Nigeria was a British colony until it became independent 1 October 1960. In 1966, a military junta came to power in a coup. Ethnic tensions due to the coup and counter-coup increased and led to the large-scale massacres of Christian Igbos living in the Muslim north.
The Niger Delta has for some years been the site of major confrontations between the people who live there and the Nigerian governments security forces. The most populous indigenous inhabitants of the Niger Delta, the Ijaws, are with their more than fourteen million people the majority group in the region and constitute the fourth largest ethnicity within the borders of Nigeria. The Ijaws are scattered across six states in the Niger Delta region. Since the discovery of crude oil in commercial quantity in Oloibiri (Ijawland) in 1958, oil companies have colluded with the military and successive governments in Nigeria, in what has been described of a war of economic exploitation, environmental degradation, and of internal colonialism. Nigeria is Africas leading oil producer and the worlds seventh largest exporter. Nearly all its 2.5 million barrels a day production comes from the Niger Delta and nearby offshore oilfields.
As a result of the discovery of large quantities of oil in the delta of the Niger river and a sprawling network of rivers and swamps, people in the southeast of this region started thinking in terms of becoming self-sufficient and increasingly prosperous. However the exclusion of easterners from power made many fear that the oil revenues would be used to benefit areas in the north and west rather than their own. All these factors contributed to a growing pressure in the Ibo east for secession. The civil war between 1967 and 1970, was a political conflict caused by the attempted secession of the south-eastern provinces of Nigeria as the self-proclaimed Republic of Biafra (also referred to as the "Biafran War"). On 23 February 1966, Major Isaac Adaka Boro launched guerrilla warfare against the government in an abortive secession attempt to create a Niger Delta Republic. During the civil war, however, the Ijaw peoples national hero, Adaka Boro, fought and died for the One Nigeria concept.
Trouble in the Niger Delta region again erupted in November 1999, when the army was sent into Bayelsa State to respond to the killing of several policemen by young Ijaw militants in the town of Odi. Armed groups responded by burning the town to the ground and killed many inhabitants. The government justified the action by the necessity of restoring order. In 1999, after 30 years of military rule, a peaceful transition to a civilian government took place. President Olusegun Obasanjo, representing PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) was re-elected in 2003.
Outbreak of the conflict
The conflict between the NDPVF (Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force), led by Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, and the Nigerian government is linked to broader political rivalries in the state. In the aftermath of state and federal elections in April-May 2003, a turf war between Asari Dokubos NDPVF and Ateke Toms NDV (Niger Delta Vigilante) escalated due to perceived support for Ateke by local politicians. Moreover, Asari decided to serve notice to oil multinationals to quit the Niger Delta in order to allow for the Ijaw to control "their" oil for their own development. Asari built up NDPVF during 2003-2004. Already in 2001, when he became president of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC), he demanded "resource control and self determination by every means necessary", signalling his readiness take up arms against the Nigerian State.
NDPVF claims to fight for the interest of the ethnic Ijaw People of the delta region, which it says have suffered neglect and deprivation despite being the source of Nigerias oil wealth. The multi-million dollar trade has done little to benefit the deltas impoverished people. According to the government, Asari and his organisation are nothing more than a criminal gang which finances itself by stealing oil from pipelines and selling it clandestinely to tankers offshore.
In July 2004 it was reported that Dokubo Asari had declared an "armed struggle" against the federal government and Rivers State Governor Peter Odili. In September the army announced that it was taking over security in Rivers State from the police to "cleanse the state of all forms of armed banditry." Between July and September at least some 70 people died as a consequence of the battle between government forces and NDPVF. Troops entered villages in search for NDPVF supporters, operations to cleanse the state of illegal weapons were carried out and helicopter gunships were used, according to the government only once to attack Asaris base which the army described as a military installation. On 27 September, Asari announced the decision to declare Operation Locust Feast which would cover the whole Niger Delta. It was going to be an all-out war against the Nigerian state. By satellite phone on 27 September Asari told Reuters that the whole Ijaw nation would fight against the Nigerian state. He stated that the NDPVF was fighting for the "self-determination" of the Ijaw people in the Niger Delta and their right to control - or at least benefit from - the vast oil resources near their homes.
The Nigerian government responded by inviting Asari to Abuja to negotiate. A truce was reached on 29 September between NDPVF and the federal government of Nigeria. Two days later on 1 October, IYC organised talks between Asari and Ateke Tom’s NDV, chaired by President Obasanjo, leading to the signing of a ceasefire agreement the same day. In the six point agenda the two parties also agreed to disarm along with a promise to bring development to the region.
On 20 September 2005, the federal authorities arrested NDPVF leader Asari on charges of treason. On 27 September the same year, a NDPVF spokesperson released a statement that saying that the organisation had "ceased all hostilities" with the Nigerian government. After Asaris arrest the group lost many members to the newly created MEND (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta) that continued to fight the Nigerian government, but is not included in UCDP data as its incompatibility with the government is unclear. MEND also demanded the release of NDPVF leader Asari from prison. The conflict between NDPVF and the Nigerian government is regarded as terminated by the ceasefire signed on 29 September 2004.
