Lagos - Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo was due in the troubled oil city of Warri on Friday to mediate in an ethnic dispute that has disrupted oil production, officials said.
Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer and the world's fifth largest exporter of crude with a daily output of about two million barrels, much of which is from the restive Niger Delta region.
The delta is also the scene of regular violent clashes among the Itsekiris, Ijaws and Urhobos for the control of the port city of Warri.
"The president will be in Warri this morning. We have made necessary preparations for his welcome," Sheddy Ozoene, spokesperson for Delta State Governor James Obori said.
"The president will meet the various ethnic leaders with a view to finding a lasting solution to the crisis," he said.
He said Obasanjo will visit the troops sent in to keep the peace following frequent violence in the city.
A joint taskforce of army, navy, airforce and paramilitary police was last month deployed in Warri and the surrounding swamps to quell fighting between the rival Ijaw and Itsekiri groups.
Clashes between the factions have since March disrupted oil production, left scores dead and driven thousands of villagers from their homes.
Almost a third of the west African country's daily oil output was halted when unrest forced oil majors out of the Warri region.
Production has been increased or diverted from domestic use to make up for the export shortfall, but oil operations in much of the western Delta region are still shut down. - Sapa-AFP