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Last Updated: Nov 2nd, 2009 - 17:32:57 |
ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's main militant group said on Monday it would release a British oil worker held hostage in the Niger Delta for the past nine months.
"Today, June 1 is Matthew Maguire's birthday. He has spent close to nine months in captivity and we hope to release him today as his gift," the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said in an e-mailed statement.
Maguire has been held captive in the creeks of the Niger Delta, home to Africa's biggest oil and gas industry, since September 9. MEND released another Briton seized with him, Robin Barry Hughes, in April because of his ill health.
Hundreds of foreigners have been taken in the delta since MEND launched a campaign of violence in early 2006 to push for what it considers to be a fairer share of the profits from crude oil extraction. Most are freed unharmed after a few weeks.
The militants had threatened to keep the two Britons until Nigerian authorities freed one of their leaders, Henry Okah, who is on trial for treason and gun-running.
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