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Libya pulls off publicity coup as hostages celebrate |
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September 14, 2000
TRIPOLI (AP) - Four European men held captive in the Philippines for 140 days gathered at a historic fortress on the Mediterranean to offer gratitude to Libya for arranging their release, then finally headed home to family and friends. The German foreign minister later arrived in Tripoli to thank the government. The oil-rich North African nation has reportedly paid the Abu Sayyaf rebels of southern Philippines dlrs 10 million in ransom money in exchange for the freedom of the four - two Finns, a Frenchman and a German - and six other European hostages released last month. The ceremony appeared to bring the Libyans the results they hoped for - maximum publicity for their role in the hostage saga to win international respectability for their country, long accused of sponsoring terrorism and meddling in the affairs of other nations. But the most significant publicity coup pulled off by the Libyans came when German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer arrived in Tripoli late Tuesday night to thank the Libyan governement. Fischer met for half an hour with Seif el Islam Gadhafi, son of the Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and head of a nominally private organization which led Libya's efforts to free the hostages. "The reason of the visit is to say `thank you' to all those who worked very hard for the release and safe return of the hostages. We are very thankful ... and we hope that the last hostages who are still held in (the Filipino island of) Jolo will be released safe and immediately," Fischer said on arrival. Asked about German-Libyan relations, he said they had already improved when Germany chaired the European Union during the first half of 1999. He did not elaborate. Fischer and Gadhafi's son made no statements after their meeting at Gadhafi's private home. Fischer stopped over in Tripoli on his way to the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Earlier, at the hourlong ceremony at the Red Palace bordering Tripoli's ancient walled quarter, Risto Vahanen spoke for hostages freed on Saturday. "We are now facing the sunrise after a long time of darkness," he said. Former captives German Marc Wallert, Frenchman Stephane Loisy and Finn Seppo Franti attended, as did three senior officials from Finland, France and Germany who also expressed their gratitude to the Libyan government for its work to free the men. Some speakers wore dark glasses against the glare of the Mediterranean sun, and their hair and clothes were stirred by sea breezes during the outdoor gathering. Moammar Gadhafi, who did not attend Tuesday's ceremony, said last week he hopes for improved relations with the United States. His decision last year to surrender for a trial in the West two Libyans accused in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 led to the suspension of U.N. sanctions and better ties with Europe. Wallert, whose parents had been kidnapped as well but set free before him, arrived in Germany late Tuesday aboard a German military plane and bear-hugged his waiting mother and father. "I suppose it's obvious to say that I am overjoyed," Marc Wallert, who appeared in excellent spirits, said on the tarmac at Hanover airport. "I have never been so happy to come back." Finn hostages Vahanen and Franti arrived in Helsinki Tuesday to a warm welcome from family and government officials. Vahanen kissed the airport tarmac after he got off the plane from Tripoli. "I thought that it would taste of aircraft fuel, but it tasted of nothing," Vahanen joked. French hostage Loisy was embraced in turns by ecstatic family members on arrival at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport Tuesday. Asked after the ceremony whether Libya's prestige had been boosted by its role in freeing the hostages, Seif el-Islam Gadhafi said, "Of course." Libya denies paying ransom for the captives' freedom, saying it only offered funding for development projects in the impoverished, largely Muslim southern Philippines. Libya has longstanding ties with Muslim rebels in the mostly Roman Catholic nation, has helped build schools and mosques in the south and has been accused of training rebels from the region's larger Muslim rebel group. The ceremony came one day after Vahanen said the Abu Sayyaf rebels raped some of the female captives. But speaking to reporters in Tripoli on Tuesday, he denied he had spoken of rape and said their mistreatment included inappropriate touching of the women. "The questions were misleading and also what has been said has been misunderstood," he said. "We were humiliated and mistreated, all of us, but we didn't report this before we were released because we were afraid of being abused more or harassed." The four Europeans freed Saturday were the last foreigners from a group of 21 hostages taken hostage in April from a Malaysian diving resort. The Abu Sayyaf rebels are still holding one Filipino captured at the same time, two French television journalists and 12 Filipino Christian evangelists. A separate Abu Sayyaf faction is holding American Jeffrey Schilling, a 24-year-old Muslim convert from Oakland, California, who was abducted Aug. 28 after he voluntarily visited a rebel camp.
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