Nigeria rebels free 6 hostages; declare truce

LAGOS, June 2 (Reuters) A Nigerian rebel group today freed six foreign oil workers it seized a month ago and said it would halt further attacks on oil facilities for a month to pave the way for dialogue with the new government.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said the expatriates -- four Italians, an American and a Croat -- were handed over to the Bayelsa state government.

''We confirm the release today ... of all six individuals captured by our fighters,'' MEND said in a statement.

It named the freed workers as John Stapleton, Ignazio Gugliotta, Alfonso Franza, Raffaele Pascarriello, Mario Celntano and Jurica Ruic. They were seized on May 1 from a facility operated by US energy giant Chevron.

The Italian foreign ministry confirmed their release and said they were all in good health.

Chevron said the men, who were abducted from its Floating Storage and Offloading vessel stationed offshore Nigeria, were freed without conditions and would soon join their families.

MEND is pressing for regional control over the Niger Delta's oil wealth, the release of two jailed leaders from the area and compensation to villages for pollution.

The group said the hostage release was to illustrate its readiness for dialogue, adding that it hoped the government would use the one month grace period to come up with realistic measures to help solve the crisis in the oil producing delta.

''We will suspend attacks on oil installations for one month.

A period which we hope the government will take advantage of to ruminate on positive and realistic measures towards a just peace in the delta,'' it said in an email statement to the media.

NO MORE CARNIVALS The Niger Delta crisis is a priority of the new government of President Umaru Yar'Adua, who used his inaugural address on Tuesday to appeal for an end to violence.

Yar'Adua had announced a summit on the Niger Delta beginning on Monday, but the presidency postponed it today saying participants had asked for more time for consultations.

MEND advised Yar'Adua not to follow the example of his predecessor, Olusegun Obasanjo, who staged similar summits in the past with little to show for them.

''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,'' it said.

MEND said it would talk to the government only through intermediaries it had appointed, in the presence of a neutral arbiter acceptable to all parties.

The shadowy rebel group, which emerged in late 2005, was responsible for a string of attacks on oil production facilities that have cut Nigerian output by over a quarter since Febuary. 2006 and prompted thousands of foreigners to flee the lawless delta.

The supply disruptions in Nigeria, which is the world's eighth biggest exporter of crude, have pushed up oil prices on international markets.

Violence in the Niger Delta, a vast wetlands region that accounts for all of Nigeria's oil output, stems from a complex set of factors including poverty, lack of basic services, corruption among government and security forces, resentment towards foreign oil companies and political thuggery.

But the line between militancy and crime is blurred and most kidnappings are by copycat armed groups seeking hefty ransoms.

REUTERS ABM RK2205