Nigeria reaches cease-fire with rebels
From Jeff Koinange
CNN
 |  A rebel stands where a house was destroyed in air raids in Orusangama, Nigeria, last week. |
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LAGOS, Nigeria (CNN) -- The Nigerian government has signed a cease-fire with three rebel groups that had been targeting foreign oil companies and their workers in the Niger Delta region, government officials said Friday.
The rebel groups, including the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force, agreed to immediately cease hostilities and to immediately begin disarming, the Nigerian government said.
The rebels also agreed to rescind all threats to foreign oil companies and their workers. The groups had been responsible for numerous attacks on foreign oil workers over the past few months.
The agreement also provided a framework for continued negotiations with the rebels, the government said, and those talks will look at rehabilitating the Niger Delta region.
Nigeria was the fifth largest exporter of crude oil to the United States and seventh largest exporter in the world in 2003, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. A majority of Nigeria's oil reserves are in the Niger River delta, the DOE said.
Nigeria, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, exported an average of 2.3 million barrels of oil per day in 2003, according to OPEC's Web site.
For the first time Friday, oil prices in New York closed above $50 a barrel, primarily on concerns over the situation in Nigeria.
