Charity suspends work in Dagestan

Erkel: Kidnapped at gunpoint

MOSCOW, Russia -- Dutch national Peter-Arjan Erkel was kidnapped on Monday night by three armed men in the Caucasus province of Dagestan.

"MSF is extremely concerned about Arjan's fate and urges whoever is holding him to respect his physical and mental integrity and to release him unharmed," the group said in a statement.

"Following this incident, MSF has decided to also suspend its operations in Dagestan and neighbouring Ingushetia for the time being."

Kidnappings for ransom have become commonplace in the Caspian Sea province of Dagestan, which has seen increased lawlessness since the conflict in nearby Chechnya.

Foreign national are favourite targets in a region awash with arms.

RESOURCES MAP: Russia's lawlesss southern fringe

MSF said it had not received ransom demands or heard any news of the 32-year-old, who had been working in Dagestan as the head of the Swiss section of MSF since April.

MSF provides medical help to tent camps across Ingushetia and Dagestan, where some 150,000 refugees are sheltering from the Chechen war. It supports mobile clinics, hospitals and drug distribution programmes in Chechnya.

The charity suspended work in Chechnya in July after the abduction of Nina Davidovich, the head of a local aid agency.

Lawlessness has increased in Dagestan since the Chechen conflict

"Because the position of ordinary people, particularly Chechens, is so precarious and the medical needs are so great, MSF will continuously review the situation to decide whether to maintain the suspension," the agency said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, which has about 300 local staff and 19 expatriates in the Caucasus, told Reuters it would assess the situation but had taken no decision to pull out.

Last September Scottish football team Glasgow Rangers refused to go to Dagestan to play a local team Anzhi Makhachkala in a European competition because of fears players might be abducted.

The game was eventually played on a neutral ground.