Two months after a new round of devastating violence broke out in the Niger Delta, the Nigerian government has offered amnesty if all militants turn over all their weapons and renounce violence by October, and the militants have offered a 60-day cease fire after a key militant leader – Henry Okah – was released from prison earlier this month.  These actions should be good signs that the region is taking its first tenuous step toward peace, however most experts believe that the region is not close to any such reality.  Thousands of people are still displaced, the military is still occupying the region and will not let displaced people return home and the militants are threatening to end the cease fire any minute.

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