|
|
Change Your Life! |
Talks with Muslim extremists resume |
|
News
|
|
|
July 13, 2000
JOLO, Philippines (AP) - Two government negotiators returned to a remote Philippine province Wednesday to resume talks with Muslim extremists who are holding dozens of hostages, including a group of 20 mostly foreign captives abducted from Malaysia in April. The negotiators, Farouk Hussein and Libyan envoy Ashad Abdul Rajab Azzarouq, said they expect success in achieving freedom for the hostages being held in a jungle on southern Jolo island. "We're going to pursue talks and are hopeful that we will succeed in securing the early release of the hostages," said Hussein after arriving in Jolo, about 940 kilometers (580 miles) south of Manila. The Abu Sayyaf, the smaller of two groups fighting for a separate Islamic nation in the southern Philippines, abducted an initial batch of 21 Westerners and Asians from the Malaysian diving resort of Sipadan on April 23 and took them by boat to Jolo. They released one Malaysian hostage last month. The rebels subsequently seized 13 Christian evangelists who traveled to their camp on July 1 and three French journalists who went there last Sunday to interview the original hostages. The rebels are also being blamed for a fourth abduction - that of German journalist Andreas Lorenz who was covering the hostage crisis. If the negotiators meet the rebels, it would be the first direct talks since formal negotiations were suspended more than a month ago when the guerrillas began escalating their demands. On Tuesday, an Abu Sayyaf commander, Ghalib Andang, who is holding the hostages, called chief government negotiator Robert Aventajado on a satellite telephone belonging to the French journalists. Andang asked for the appointment of two new go-betweens between the government and rebels to avoid confusion caused by numerous emissaries. He also expressed hope that direct negotiations would soon resume because of the growing number of captives. "Let's talk. We have already 36 hostages, there are too many hostages here already," Aventajado quoted Andang as saying. In his count, Andang apparently did not include Lorenz or three Filipinos kidnapped earlier by the Abu Sayyaf on nearby Basilan island. The capture of the evangelists and French journalists further complicates government efforts to free the original hostages, some of whom have become ill from their long jungle captivity. On Sunday, German hostage Werner Wallert wrote to Estrada, asking him to allow the payment of about dlrs 1 million in ransom for the release of his wife, Renate, the most ill of the captives. Officials said they would abide by the government's no-ransom policy. Estrada called the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas "crazy and very callous" but said his administration's primary concern remains "the safety of the hostages," suggesting he was not entertaining a military solution. The kidnappings are the worst in the Philippines in recent years. |