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Nigerian Interior Minister Abba
Moro says a prisoner swap is "not on the table"
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Nigeria
has insisted it will not agree to a request to free imprisoned Islamic
militants in return for the release of dozens of kidnapped schoolgirls.
Interior
Minister Abba Moro said Boko Haram, the group holding the girls, was in no
moral position to make the offer.
The
group earlier released a video of the girls and suggested a swap, and a
Nigerian official had said that all options were on the table.
Boko
Haram snatched more than 200 girls from a school on 14 April.
About
50 children escaped, and it is not known how many are still being held.
The
video released on Monday showed 136 girls, and was interspersed with militants
explaining that they had "converted" to Islam.
Three
of the girls - wearing full-length cloaks - are shown speaking. Two say they
were Christian and have converted, while the other says she is Muslim.
The
US state department said intelligence experts were closely examining the
footage for clues to the girls' whereabouts.
Boko
Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said on the video: "For those who have not
accepted Islam, I swear to Allah we will never release them until after you
release our brethren in your prison."
A
man who is related to three of the girls said the video at first gave him hope,
but then made him anxious and tearful.
"Maybe
they are converted into another religion by force, so it truly is a kind of
terrifying situation," said the man, who did not want to be named.
Earlier
reports said some of the girls had been married off to their captors, and
Abubakar Shekau had also threatened to sell some of them.
After
the video was released, information ministry official Mike Omeri had suggested
that "all options" were still being considered.
However,
Mr Moro told the BBC that the government would not agree to any kind of swap
deal.
"As
far as this government is concerned, the option of [the] swap of innocent
citizens with people who have taken arms against the country... is not on the
table," he said.
Boko
Haram, which means "Western education is forbidden", had previously
said the girls should not have been at school and should get married instead.
The
militants have been engaged in a violent campaign against the Nigerian
government since 2009.
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