South Africa is still negotiating the release of one of its citizens kidnapped in the Niger Delta, the Foreign Affairs Department said on Monday.
”We are still negotiating [for the man’s release] at this stage. We are, however, in contact with both the man’s mother and his wife,” spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said.
He said the department was offering the family consular assistance.
The South African was kidnapped on May 25, along with three Americans and four Britons in Nigeria’s southern petroleum-producing region, the Niger Delta.
The militants mostly kidnap foreign workers and they say they are fighting for the liberation of two of their leaders imprisoned on corruption and treason charges, and more oil revenues for their impoverished lands.
Hostages are generally released unharmed after a payment is made to the captors, French news agency Agence France-Presse reported. — Sapa