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| Nigeria militants offer ceasefire | Nigeria militants offer ceasefire |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| The main rebel group in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta region has pledged a one-month ceasefire to allow the new government to create a peace plan. | The main rebel group in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta region has pledged a one-month ceasefire to allow the new government to create a peace plan. |
| A spokesman for the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) said they would suspend attacks on oil installations for one month. | A spokesman for the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) said they would suspend attacks on oil installations for one month. |
| Newly sworn-in President Umaru Yar'Adua has said the crisis is a top priority and has called for a ceasefire. | Newly sworn-in President Umaru Yar'Adua has said the crisis is a top priority and has called for a ceasefire. |
| Attacks in the Delta have led to a drop of more than 25% in oil production. | Attacks in the Delta have led to a drop of more than 25% in oil production. |
| In its statement, Mend said it hoped President Yar'Adua would take advantage of its ceasefire "to ruminate on positive and realistic measures towards a just peace in the Delta". | In its statement, Mend said it hoped President Yar'Adua would take advantage of its ceasefire "to ruminate on positive and realistic measures towards a just peace in the Delta". |
| Summit postponed | |
| Mend also said it had released six foreign oil workers kidnapped from a Chevron facility on the Pennington River on 1 May. | |
| The Italian foreign ministry confirmed the release of the four Italians, one Croatian and one American and said they were officials from the US-based Chevron corporation. | |
| In two separate incidents on Friday, 11 foreign oil workers and family members were kidnapped in southern Nigeria. | |
| It is not clear which group the gunmen were from. | |
| Mend say they want local people to have more control of southern Nigeria's oil wealth. | |
| After his inauguration on Tuesday, President Yar'Adua announced he would hold a summit next week to seek a solution to the violence, but he postponed it on Saturday saying participants had asked for more time for consultations. | |
| Mend's statement contained a warning to the president not to follow the example of his predecessor Olusegun Obasanjo. | |
| "The present administration is treading the path taken by its predecessors in staging carnivals in Abuja and dialoguing with individuals... who [have] constantly been proven to be incapable of assisting in quelling the unrest in the Delta," the statement said. | |
| Nigeria is Africa's top oil producer and fifth largest exporter of crude oil to the US. | |
| Although the bulk of the oil comes from the swamps of the Niger Delta, the region remains deeply impoverished, a reason often given by the militants for their attacks. | |
| About 180 foreigners - most of them oil workers - have been kidnapped in the region in the past 18 months. | |
| The hostages are usually released unharmed after ransom payments that both the government and the oil workers always deny. |