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Nigeria's main fighters have postponed a three-month-old ceasefire in the Niger Delta, threatening more attacks on the country's oil and gas industry.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), responsible for years of attacks on Nigerian oil facilities, said it could no longer trust the government to negotiate demands for greater control of the region's natural resources.

"It is sufficiently clear at this point in time the government of Nigeria has no intentions of considering the demands made by this group for the control of the resources and land," said the group.

The slow progress in implementing the post-amnesty program has been made more complicated by the absence of President Umaru Yar'Adua, who has departed his country to receive medical treatment in a Saudi Arabian hospital more than two months ago.

Attacks by MEND on Nigeria's oil and gas industry over the past few years have prevented the OPEC member from producing much above two-thirds of its production capacity, costing the country about $1 billion a month in lost revenues.