“As a non-violent activist, I believe violence is not the solution to the crisis,” says Sunny Ofehe.  A Nigerian refugee in the Netherlands, Ofehe has managed to organise - almost single-handed it seems - peace talks for his troubled native Niger Delta. The two-day conference kicks off on Thursday in The Hague, but – unfortunately - without the main MEND rebel group.

At stake is the continuation of the shaky peace process launched by Nigeria’s President Umaru Yar’adua late last year. Soon after concluding an amnesty agreement with armed rebels and promising rehabilitation programmes to thousands of disarmed youths in the Delta, the president fell ill. He was unable to deliver and following a three-month truce, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) rebel group resumed their attacks on oil installations. The youths, meanwhile, are getting impatient.

Devil’s workshop
 “The youths have been left to fend for themselves”, Mr Ofehe says. 

“There is a saying that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. So when MEND say they are ending their peace agreement, it is very dangerous because there are a lot of people they can recruit and take back into the creek to begin violence.”

Sunny Ofehe - founder of the Hope for Niger Delta Campaign - has spent the past year lobbying all parties intensively, in the Netherlands and in Nigeria, to generate interest in his initiative, the Niger Delta Peace Consolidation Conference.

“My profound motivation to organise this conference is borne out of my determination to see that peace return to the Niger Delta, where foreigners can move freely without fear, as was the case when I was growing up in the region. ”

The agenda is ambitious and Mr Ofehe has no illusion that the conference will actually bring a total solution to the Niger Delta problem. The talks are to build on the gains of the ceasefire: increased oil production and greater security in the region. Mr Ofehe also hopes they will address major gaps in the amnesty process which he feels focused too much on militants and “did not provide room for other aggrieved citizens in the Niger Delta”.

Ordinary people
This is why the organiser has also invited ‘ordinary people’ – including women market traders - to attend, along with traditional leaders and youths. The conference is an ‘open’ event, where all parties interested in peace in the Niger Delta are welcome, he says.

The power vacuum in the Nigerian capital, Abuja is already having an impact on the gathering. Vice President Jonathan Goodluck has pledged to send a federal government representative, says Mr Ofehe. But just how much clout will an envoy have with the ongoing uncertainty about who’s in charge in Abuja? Nigeria’s Delta State governors have also promised to attend, but they are more likely to spend their time monitoring the situation back home.

MEND’s position
Sunny Ofehe says MEND representatives were denied visas to enter the Netherlands to attend the conference. MEND confirms that they will not be represented. A MEND spokesman contacted by Radio Netherlands Worldwide says that their ceasefire:

“...remains suspended. The president is back and the confusion is just beginning. In the midst of the ongoing power struggle, we doubt the peace process can move forward.”

Dutch government noncommittal
In fact, Mr Ofehe is having to deal with two incapacitated administrations. The Dutch government, even before the cabinet collapsed last weekend, made it clear it would not supporting the event financially or otherwise, amid concerns that “all parties” would not be represented at the conference.  Mr Ofehe does not hide his disappointment with what he perceives as the Dutch government’s lack of commitment to bringing peace to the Delta. 

Chris Ekiyor, President of the Ijaw Youth Council,  Mike Igini, a human rights lawyer and representatives of local NGOs who have already arrived, hope that even in the absence of the major players, the conference will draw international attention to their region’s environmental and political problems.

Shell's ‘own backyard’
“It may draw some attention to the region for a while before other world events take over,”  the MEND spokesman comments, cynically. However, he also adds that the organisers clearly believe that such a meeting in Shell’s own ‘backyard’ may push the international community to take the whole Delta issue more seriously.