Nigeria’s Delta rebels say peace talks went well
The main rebel group in the oil-rich Niger Delta has described peace talks with Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua as meaningful, after thousands of militants laid down their arms in exchange for education and jobs. The president has asked parliament to give the desperately poor people of the Delta a 10% share of revenues from the region's enormous oil and gas reserves, said to be worth some $500 million during the first year. Years of attacks on oil facilities by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta and lesser rebel groups cut Nigeria’s oil and gas output by a third, costing the country about $1 billion a month in lost revenue. Nobel-prize winning Nigerian writer and political activist, Wole Soyinka, also took part in the talks.Read more: BBC, Radio Netherlands Worldwide
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