PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria, (AFP) - Nigerian military officials say they have ceased military operations in the oil rich Niger Delta following a peace deal between rival gangs but there were reports of fresh killings in one village.
"I would not say we have suspended operations, but we have been asked as you say in the military to observe a marking time or simply put, hold up action," Captain Onyeama Kanu, spokesman for the Joint Task Force (JTF) patrolling the Niger Delta region, told AFP here.
"What this implies is that we will remain where we are, but have to be vigilant as we continue to monitor the situation," he said.
The government deployed troops to the region early last month to end gang violence in Port harcourt, the hub of Nigeria's oil industry, and its surrounding villages.
The unrest, according to Amnesty Interntional, claimed some 500 lives in one month alone, but the government said only 13 were killed.
The two gangs fighting over oil in the region signed a ceasefire and disarmament agreement in Abuja on Friday after months of violence.
Mujahid Dokubo Asari, leader of the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force (NDPVF) and Akete Tom, leader of the rival Niger Delta Vigilante Service, signed the deal at the behest of President Olusegun Obasanjo after three days of talks.
Both factions hail from the Ijaw people, the delta's eight million-strong dominant ethnic group.
Further talks are expected to resume on October 8 in the Nigerian capital, government officials and rebel leaders told AFP.
But despite the cessation of hostilities by the two groups, military sources told AFP Monday of an outbreak of violence at the weekend in the Ijaw village of Ke, near Bille.
"A yet to be identified armed gang invaded the village and killed several people. The report was brought to our base but we could not act on it," a senior military officer, who asked not to be named, told AFP from the JTF base in Buguma, west of Port Harcourt.
The militia groups denied responsibility for the attack Monday.
"Neither our group nor Ateke's was involved. It was an internal dispute in the village," Edipade Colombus, the commander of Asari's group told AFP.
"We heard the report of the incident while we were addressing a rally at Amadi-Ama yesterday and we are sending a delegation to the place this morning to investigate the matter," he said.
"As law-abiding citizens, we will continue to comply with the Abuja ceasefire agreement unless the other group breaks it," he added.
The police in Port Harcourt could not immediately confirm the incident.
The gang fighting in the delta, which accounts for Nigeria's daily output of 2.3 million barrels, led to concern in the international oil market. Asari's group threatened last week to go to war if their demands for a bigger slice of Nigeria's oil wealth, greater autonomy for ethnic Ijaw people and a national debate on Nigeria's problems were not met.
The group also asked oil multinationals and foreigners to leave the delta, influencing the price of crude oil which burst through the crucial 50 dollars a barrel barrier last Tuesday.
Nigeria is the world's sixth largest exporter of crude oil and Africa's biggest producer, with proved reserves of some 27 billion barrels.
The west African country derives more than 95 percent of its foreign exchange earnings from the sector, but despite its massive oil wealth, its over 130 million people, particularly, those in the delta, live on less than one dollar per day.