Meantime, hundreds of security troops fanned out across two cities in the region to disperse militants protesting against the government's failure to pay allowances promised to all rebels who accepted an amnesty in August.

Much of the problem lies with the Nov. 23 hospitalization in Saudi Arabia of President Umaru Yar'Adua, a chain smoker with chronic health problems, with what is believed to be a serious heart ailment.

His absence, with no sign that he will be resuming his political duties anytime soon, has meant that the most concerted government effort to end the 5-year-old rebellion is grinding to a halt.

In the meantime, the convoluted peace process has been taken over by Nigeria's rampantly corrupt bureaucrats and this has incensed the rebels.

Saturday's attack on the major pipeline operated by the Anglo-Dutch Shell and U.S. Chevron oil companies was a warning shot by the main rebel alliance, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta.

MEND spokesman Jomo Gbomo said the group considers the unconditional cease-fire deal it made with the government Oct. 25 to be void for the next 30 days.

"A situation where the future of the Niger Delta is tied to the health and wellbeing of one man is unacceptable," he declared.

One militant chieftain indicated that any escalation would likely be swift and sharp. "In the past, you'd attack an oil platform and take one or two hostages," he said.

"This time, you'll evacuate the platform completely and burn it completely. And for four or five years after that, there's no hope for that platform to produce."

Yar'Adua, elected in 2007 in polling marred by fraud, intimidation and violence, has never named a successor. It is unlikely that the Muslim-dominated north would accept the replacement of Yar'Adua, a Muslim, by Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, a southern Christian.

This power vacuum has caused widespread uncertainty in this nation of 150 million, the most populous on the continent, and fueled the frustrations of the thousands of rebels who laid down their arms during the summer.

The street protests in Yenegoa, capital of Bayelsda state, and Warri, the main oil city in neighboring Delta state, reflected the growing sense of betrayal among the young rebels who accepted the government amnesty during the summer.

They claim they have not been paid the $2,000 stipends they were promised for laying down their weapons.

The rebel complaints have become more strident in recent days, evoking deep-rooted bitterness among the impoverished tribes of the swampy Niger Delta at the way they have been treated over the years by Nigeria's notoriously corrupt governments.

With parliamentary elections scheduled for 2010, the government in Abuja, Nigeria's political capital, can ill afford to permit the rebellion to be reignited.

But the lengthening absence of Yar'Adua means the prospect of a lasting peace deal is slipping away as pessimism mounts.

When the amnesty took effect in the summer, the constant attacks by MEND fighters had reduced national oil production of 3 million barrels a day by at least one-third. That cost Nigeria, which has Africa's biggest oil and gas industry, $1 billion a month in lost revenue.

The growing importance of West Africa, the hottest oil zone in the world right now, makes what happens in Nigeria, which has the biggest reserves in Africa, globally important.

Any return to sustained attacks on the oil industry would almost certainly reduce Nigerian oil production even further.

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