Nigerian militants to halt oil facility attacks

LAGOS, June 2 (Reuters) A Nigerian group at the vanguard of militancy in the Niger Delta said today it would halt 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), which also freed all six foreign workers it seized last month, said it hoped the government would use the 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,'' MEND said in an email statement to the media.

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,'' the group 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.

REUTERS SG ND1912