PeaceReporter interviews Cynthia Whyte, spokesperson of the Nigerian rebels of the Joint Revolutionary Council

Corruption, permanent environmental degradation, lack of infrastructures and unemployment are major problems in the area of the Niger Delta. It could be one of the richest in the African continent thanks to the region’s vast petroleum resources, that make Nigeria the main oil exporter of Sub-Saharan Africa.
But despite that, after more than three decades of oil production which has generated over 3 billion dollars, the population of the area is still living on less than one dollar a day, due to many corrupted and incompetent governments who did not care about dealing with these issues.
After the arrest in 2003 of Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, the leader of the rebel force, fights between the armed groups of the area has sharpened and at least five militia forces demanding self-determination for the local communities, investment plans and more money from oil production have been formed. These militias, joined by thousands of men, commit acts of sabotage on wells and pipelines and attack police stations and military barracks. In the last few months, though, their favourite tactic is the abduction of foreign staff of oil companies, in order to attract the international interest on the problem. This has forced Nigeria to cut off the production of 20%.
Peace Reporter has interviewed Cynthia Whyte, spokesperson of Joint Revolutionary Council, the umbrella organization which groups together the main militia forces of the region; among them, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, la Martyrs Brigade e la Reformed Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force.

Rebels of MEND, what are your main claims, apart from freedom for Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, your leader?

We want self-determination, the only way through which our people will be able to develop after so many years of exploitation by the authorities. The prolonged detention of our respected leader will only strengthen the fight of the communities and of the area of the  Niger Delta.
I would like to recall that Dokubo-Asari was not arrested during a raid. He was arrested after he had laid down his arms by his own will, when he started to fight for the liberation of his people in a non-violent way.
Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force, the group he formed, has been renamed Niger Delta People's Salvation Front and has become a political organization with the aim of gaining power by pacific means. For this reason, we consider his incarceration as a serious offence against the fight of our ethnic group, the Ijaw. 
   
Oil extraction plants in the Niger Delta region. Which accusations do you level against oil companies?

Oil companies think they can go on exploiting our homeland and get off scot-free, and to deprive our people of their human rights, until Aso Rock (the office of the Nigerian government) is on their side. We want to show that, unfortunately, thing will not be as they were before.
There is nothing we can do to the oil companies that could be compared to the things they have done to our people so far.

For example?

The economic inequality and the multinationals’ refusal to develop reliable plans to give a fair work to our people have increased the vulnerability of the country to crime and prostitution.
No wonder the Niger Delta region has nowadays one of the highest HIV/AIDS infection rates in the world. How can we be compensated for that?

Do you actually think you can force oil companies to leave the area? Some of them invested billions of dollars to build their plants.

We think that oil companies have not been damaged enough. The situation will get worse. Now we are reorganizing some key sectors in order to maximize our efficiency and increase our power, because we want to achieve decisive and lasting results.
When we will reach this stage, the multinationals of the region will need to decide if they want to stay in our country or not.

Explosion of an oil pipeline in Nigeria. What do you say to the members of the society who protest against your actions and ask you to operate only through peaceful means?

In the last two years, the Ijawa leaders and other regional entities have asked us to allow the negotiations. They promised us we would reap the rewards, but nothing has happened yet.
Now they have understood that the armed fight is the best way towards political, social and economic liberation of our people from the chains of Nigerian government and its imperialist friends.
  
In the last few months in the region there was an increase of kidnap-for-ransom groups. Do you think your fight could be damaged by being compared to mere criminals?

First of all, we want to underline that the first person labelled as a criminal was the former leader of Nigerian federation, General Olusegun Obasanjo (he has stepped down after general elections last April).
Nigerian government allowed the creation of a situation of complete chaos and anarchy and this is the result.
So we cannot report abductions, whoever are they by. An oppressed populations will not stop reacting against orders.
The growing anarchy in our homeland is a consequence of deceptions, frauds, oppression and marginalization against our people in the last fifty years.