The Nigerian major militant group Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) announced a two-month cease-fire on Wednesday.

The cease-fire came two days after the release of MEND's jailed leader Henry Okah.

The militant group said in a statement "Effective from 0000 hours (2300 GMT) on Wednesday, July 15, 2009, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) will be observing a temporary cease-fire for a 60 day period."

Okah was released Monday after he declared to accept the terms of the amnesty offered by the federal government last month.

Nigerian Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa on Monday withdrew all charges against Okah after a hearing in a court in Jos and granted him the release.

The militant leader had been on trial for gun-running and treason after being arrested in Angola in 2007 and his release has been one of the key demands from the group to accept the amnesty.

Last month, the Nigerian government announced an amnesty for the militants in a bid to end serious unrest in the restive oil- rich Niger Delta. The amnesty offers unconditional pardon to all persons involved directly or indirectly in militant activities in the Delta region.

The militant group has mainly been carrying out attacks against foreign oil companies in the southeast Nigeria's Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers states.

Armed attacks in the oil rich region, which accounts for almost all of Nigeria's oil output, have cut more than 20 percent of the country's crude exports since 2006.

The group has recently launched several attacks on international oil facilities in southern Nigeria as part of its campaign to get what it calls a fairer distribution of the region's oil wealth to local people.

The latest attack came on Monday when the group said its fighters had carried out an unprecedented attack on the Atlas Cove Jetty in Nigeria's commercial hub of Lagos state.

The jetty is the main entry point for ships entering Nigerian waters from the West and for oil tanker loading.

(Xinhua News Agency July 15, 2009)