Nigeria oil militants call for 60-day cease-fire

ABUJA, Nigeria – Nigeria’s main militant group said it is calling a 60-day cease-fire immediately in response to the release of an ailing rebel leader.

Henry Okah was freed Monday just hours after the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta set fire to an oil depot and loading tankers in the country’s economic center, Lagos.

Five people were killed in the group’s first attack outside the Delta region.

The insurgents said in a statement Wednesday that they hope the cease-fire will create an “enabling environment” for negotiations.

Okah was released under a government amnesty.

Rebel attacks on oil installations and kidnapping of foreign oil workers have cut output of Africa’s biggest oil producer by a quarter and often affect the world price of oil.

Attacks on Nigeria’s oil infrastructure helped boost worldwide oil prices in early July. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta group said June 6 it had seized a chemical tanker with six foreign crew members aboard and attacked a second oil facility.

The organization’s stated goals are to localize control of Nigerian oil and to obtain reparations from the Nigerian government for oil pollution.