N�Delta: FG dumps military operation

Findings by Sunday Punch show that the government has opted to continue to use dialogue to persuade the militants to drop their arms and embrace peace.

The Ijaw National Leader, Chief Edwin Clark, who led a delegation of the South- South leadership zone to a recent meeting with President Umaru Yar�Adua in Abuja, said on Saturday that the government promised the group that the military would not attack any of the Niger Delta communities.

The Commander of the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta, Operation Restore Hope, Major Gen. Lawrence Ngubane, had in July 2007, prepared a report which suggested the use of military might to deal with the unending criminality and militancy in the region.

The report was entitled, �Strategies to stem out (sic) militant activities within the Joint Task Force, Operation Restore Hope Area of Responsibility.� Its reference number was given as TFRH/25/G.

The18- page report, with three annexes, was marked secret on every page and sent to the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Owoye Azazi, who supervises the JTF, Op RH.

Ngubane, in his introductory remarks, said, �The aim of this brief is to present to the CDS a strategy for stemming militant activities within the JTF Operation Restore Hope AOR. This brief will cover threat situation, militant camps within JTF Op RH AOR, threat assessment, terrain analysis, proposed strategy and requirement.�

The report also covered the profile of the militant groups in Bayelsa and Delta States, including their locations, identities of their leaders, strength of each of the militant camps, weapon inventory and their activities.

The report also accused the oil majors and prominent politicians of encouraging the militants and fuelling the unending crises in the region.

�To stamp out militants in the Niger Delta with particular reference to Bayelsa and Delta states, the following lines of operation will be pursued concurrently �� (a) Political line of operation (b) Information/Psychological line of operation and (c) Military line of operation.

�Each of these lines of operation will be highlighted but more emphasis will be given to the military line of operation. The operation will be intensive in manpower and will also demand close air support, casualty evacuation and supply by air.�

However, the leakage of the report to the militants led to their withdrawal from the peace �� talks with the government.

The Ijaw Youth Leaders Forum, the umbrella body for youth activism in the region, said the planned military action violated the agreement between them and the Federal Government.

The group accused the government of insincerity and directed its kinsmen serving on the various peace committees established by the Federal Government to withdraw forthwith.

But Clark, in an interview with our correspondent claimed that Yar�Adua told is group in Abuja that the government would not act on the report.

He said that the President only asked the leaders to prevail on the warring youths to shun criminal tendencies and embrace dialogue to resolve their differences with the government and other stakeholders in the region.

Already, Clark said the Ijaw ethnic nationality leadership region had begun moves to reconcile the militants with the Federal Government.

He said the position of the President would be made known to the militants by a committee set up by the Ijaw leader. The committee is led by Prof. C. Pime, a lecturer at Ambrose Ali Univrsity, Ekpoma, Edo State.

He expressed conviction that the militants would resume discussions with the government on the way forward for the region following the assurance from Yar�Adua that the military had been called to order.