Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua has offered the rebels in his country unconditional amnesty if they lay down their weapons and cease fighting.

The president hopes that this will prevent further assaults on oil installations owned by Shell and the kidnapping of its employees in the Niger Delta.

The offer was originally made more than two weeks ago but was then refused by the most important rebel movement in Nigeria: the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).

MEND is fighting for a more equal division of the income from oil and gas extraction in the country. On Sunday, it attacked two Shell pipelines in the east of the Niger Delta. It says it did so as a warning to Russia not to go ahead with its plans to invest in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
 
On Wednesday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a number of agreements during a visit to Nigeria. The Russian energy giant Gazprom International and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation have established a joint venture in the exploitation of oil and gas reserves in the Niger Delta region. Starting in 2010, Gazprom hopes to begin construction of a Trans Saharan gas pipeline stretching more than 4,000 kilometres from Nigeria to Europe.

MEND says oil companies and Nigerian officials earn enormous amounts of money from oil and gas extraction in the Niger Delta, while the region's inhabitants live in dire poverty. MEND has been kidnapping foreign oil workers and attacking Shell installations for the past three years.

President Yar’Adua says his repeated offer of a pardon applies to all Nigerian rebels, no matter how involved they have been in acts of violence.

Photo of rebels and hostages in Niger Delta by ISN Security Watch (flickr)