Nigeria rebel leader cites deal
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| FACT BOX | NET OIL EXPORTERS (millions of barrels per day, 2003) 1. Saudi Arabia 8.38 2. Russia 5.81 3. Norway 3.02 4. Iran 2.48 5. UAE 2.29 6. Venezuela 2.23 Source: U.S. Department of Energy June 2004
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LAGOS, Nigeria (CNN) -- A rebel leader who had threatened to attack multinational oil interests in Nigeria says he and President Olusegun Obasanjo have agreed that rebel and government troops will stop firing on each other immediately.
Militia leader Al-Haji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari told CNN in a telephone interview that more talks would be held on Wednesday night to cement the tentative deal.
The basis for the conflict is the contention by militia groups that little of the country's vast oil wealth in the southern Delta region is returning to Nigerians.
Dokubo-Asari, a former Christian who converted to Islam and changed his name, had vowed Tuesday to bomb oil rigs and pipelines in the country, the world's 10th-largest oil exporter, beginning Thursday.
The major oil companies had sent e-mails to their employees, urging them not to stray from their housing compounds and offices.
Dokubo-Asari said the president sent his private plane to pick him up and take him to Abuja, where the meeting was held.
One oil analyst said international leaders must have pressured Obasanjo to "put his house in order."
Still, the agreement did not bring a full cease-fire, since fighting between rebel and government forces was continuing in certain parts of the country.
Nigeria, a member of OPEC, is Africa's leading oil producer and exporter, the world's seventh-largest crude oil exporter and fifth-largest source of U.S. oil imports.
Oil prices hovered Wednesday around $50 per barrel.
CNN Bureau Chief Jeff Koinange contributed to this story.