Jed,
Good find. Been spider webbing all the groups in Nigeria for sometime. This one statement sums it all up though.
A couple of similar amnesty programmes were tried before, and failed, but this one seems to be working.
That pile of weapons doesn't even scratch the surface of whats in that place, and I would assume or at least hope going after the weapon smuggling coming in from Ghana would be a high priority. I give this two months if that.
Probably the most accurate description:
Armed Gangs Dominate Nigeria's Oil-Rich Region
By Gilbert da Costa
Abuja
19 April 2009
"You discover that even our young kids, even at the level of primary school; you see them engaging in most of these clandestine organizations and activities," said Onyebueke. "And it is causing a lot of disruptions. Most of them go into drugs, most of them take to violent crimes and you discover most of them going mental at very young ages. Some of them become dropouts and touts and that affects their productivity. And that also affects our economy."
Violence in the delta, a wetlands region, is rooted in poverty, corruption and lawlessness. The region has the highest unemployment rate in Nigeria and is the most impoverished. Most inhabitants have seen few benefits from five decades of oil extraction that has damaged their environment.You look at them like very violent groups; their communities do not look at them like violent groups," he continued. "They look at them like vanguard organizations through which they express their displeasure; they express their anger on the exploitation of their land to the government. So most of the time we do not brand them violent or secret cults because their communities do not tag them that."
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