Offering amnesty: Nigeria's President Umaru Yar'Adua
Nigeria puts amnesty offer on table
Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua is poised to offer Niger Delta militants a 60-day amnesty in an effort to end years of attacks on the country's upstream sector, a senior official said.
"All militants who respond positively to the amnesty proclamation should... receive presidential pardon and thus become immune to criminal prosecution," the source close to Nigeria's Council of State told Reuters.
Yar'Adua is due to present the proposal to a council, composed of the country's 36 state governors as well as former heads of state and chief justices today.
The Nigerian leader has said the amnesty programme will be open to all gunmen in the Niger Delta and would provide rehabilitation, education and training.
Militant attacks in the region have cut Nigerian oil output to less than two thirds of its installed capacity of 3 million barrels per day over the past three years.
One militant leader, Ateke Tom, has indicated he would consider taking part in the amnesty programme if the military halts its offensive and withdraws its troops from the region, one of his lawyers said this month.
But the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), the region's main militant group, yesterday denied local media reports that other militant commanders had accepted taking part in the programme.
"Mend is waiting to hear if President Yar'Adua has anything new to offer in his expected address today before responding accordingly," it said in a statement emailed to Reuters.