ABUJA: As Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, prepared to celebrate 44 years of independence on Friday, the threat by a Niger Delta militia to launch attacks against foreign oil company installations looms.

The leader of the NDPVF (Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force), Mujaheed Dokubo Asari, had earlier in the week threatened all-out war against Nigerian forces as well as foreign oil companies, but said on late Wednesday he had agreed to a cease fire with government forces, although this was neither confirmed nor denied by government officials.

The threat against foreign oil installations however was not withdrawn. The instability in Nigeria's oil-rich Delta region and the threat against foreign oil companies such as Shell and Agip working there, are seen as one reason why world oil prices have hit record highs this week.

Asari claims to be fighting to enable the Ijaw people, the largest ethnic group in the Delta, to see greater benefits from the region's oil revenues, but the government has simply dismissed him as a thief.

The militia leader has said he will not disarm until the NDPVF's main demands, self-determination and control of oil resources, are discussed. Asari also has accused Shell and Agip of complicity in genocide against the Ijaw, and has demanded they stop production in the Delta by Friday or face attacks. In response, Shell has withdrawn over 200 staff from the region and boosted security.

Although Nigeria is the world's seventh largest oil exporter, over 70 per cent of its people live in poverty. The Niger Delta has long been volatile, as armed gangs are involved in stealing and smuggling crude oil.

But the Delta is not the only area in Nigeria where groups oppose the federal government. Ethnic militias seeking self-determination in the southeast and southwest have continuously demanded the country be broken into smaller units.

Ralph Uwazurike, leader of the south-eastern Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, which seeks self- determination for the Igbo, the country's third largest ethnic group, said the southeast should no longer be part of Nigeria considering the marginalization of the region since its failed attempt to secede in 1967.

The attempted secession led to a 30-month war between the southeast, which declared itself the Republic of Biafra, and the rest of Nigeria. Nigeria's oil-based economy has been at the centre of most of its problems as much of the revenue from oil exports, is squandered through corruption and mismanagement. -dpa