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06/07/2007
Captors threaten to kill British girl
The kidnappers of a three-year-old British girl in Nigeria have threatened to kill her unless her father agrees to take her place.
Margaret Hill, the daughter of an expatriate worker, was snatched from a car on her way to school in the city of Port Harcourt on Thursday morning.
Her father Mike Hill, originally from Murton in Co. Durham, has lived in Nigeria for ten years and runs a bar in Port Harcourt, while her mother, Oluchi, is a Nigerian national.
Mrs Hill told reporters that the kidnappers contacted her to demand a meeting in a town in the Niger Delta, before allowing her to speak to her daughter, who was crying. She said that the child had said she was only being given bread and water.
The kidnappers threatened to kill the child if her father did not come to take her place within three hours.
Mrs Hill said the kidnappers contacted her again after the deadline expired and said that one of them had demanded money, but did not specify how much.
The UK's Foreign Office has called for the "immediate safe release" of Margaret.
The British High Commission in Nigeria said that it was not yet clear who was behind the kidnapping of Margaret Hill.
However, kidnappings - usually of foreign oil workers - are common in the country, with many armed criminal gangs operating in the area.
The main militant group in the area, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) called off a month-long ceasefire this week.
The group is demanding to localize control of Nigeria's oil and to secure reparations from the national government for pollution caused by the oil industry and is regularly associated with the abduction of foreign oil workers and attacks on foreign-owned oil companies in the country.
On Friday, Mend sent an email to the AP news agency condemning the kidnap of Margaret Hill and offering to join in the search to find her.
It has been reported that agents from the State Security Services have arrived at the Hills' home in order to help begin negotiations to secure their daughter's release.
(KMcA)
Margaret Hill, the daughter of an expatriate worker, was snatched from a car on her way to school in the city of Port Harcourt on Thursday morning.
Her father Mike Hill, originally from Murton in Co. Durham, has lived in Nigeria for ten years and runs a bar in Port Harcourt, while her mother, Oluchi, is a Nigerian national.
Mrs Hill told reporters that the kidnappers contacted her to demand a meeting in a town in the Niger Delta, before allowing her to speak to her daughter, who was crying. She said that the child had said she was only being given bread and water.
The kidnappers threatened to kill the child if her father did not come to take her place within three hours.
Mrs Hill said the kidnappers contacted her again after the deadline expired and said that one of them had demanded money, but did not specify how much.
The UK's Foreign Office has called for the "immediate safe release" of Margaret.
The British High Commission in Nigeria said that it was not yet clear who was behind the kidnapping of Margaret Hill.
However, kidnappings - usually of foreign oil workers - are common in the country, with many armed criminal gangs operating in the area.
The main militant group in the area, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) called off a month-long ceasefire this week.
The group is demanding to localize control of Nigeria's oil and to secure reparations from the national government for pollution caused by the oil industry and is regularly associated with the abduction of foreign oil workers and attacks on foreign-owned oil companies in the country.
On Friday, Mend sent an email to the AP news agency condemning the kidnap of Margaret Hill and offering to join in the search to find her.
It has been reported that agents from the State Security Services have arrived at the Hills' home in order to help begin negotiations to secure their daughter's release.
(KMcA)
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The three-year-old girl kidnapped in Nigeria has been freed. The British girl, Margaret Hill, was held for four days, but was released unharmed, despite threats by the kidnappers to kill the girl unless a ransom was paid or the girl's father took her place as their captive.
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