FG to engage MEND, militant groups in dialogue

Punch

17 March 2011

FG to engage MEND, militant groups in dialogue

The Federal Government on Wednesday said it would engage the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta and other militants groups in dialogue in order to stop incessant bomb threats and bring lasting peace to the Niger Delta and the entire country.

The Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Niger Delta, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, who said this at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, explained that the government was not “taking lightly” MEND’s latest threat to bomb political gatherings and oil installations in Niger Delta, Lagos and Abuja.

Speaking at a pre-departure news conference organised for 75 ex-militants, leaving for post amnesty training in Russia, Kuku stressed that the government was not oblivious of the fact that some militants were still aggrieved.