Estrada rebuffs Chirac 'interference'

Estrada rebuffs Chirac 'interference'

MANILA (Agencies): Philippine President Joseph Estrada, buoyed by soaring domestic support for his risky hostage rescue mission, on Tuesday brusquely rejected French criticism of the military assault.

Estrada sent in the army against Abu Sayyaf camps on the remote southern island of Jolo on Saturday to rescue 19 American, French, Malaysian and Filipino captives.

The United States and Malaysia have expressed understanding but France has been critical.

Asked whether he had spoken to French President Jacques Chirac to explain his decision, Estrada told reporters: "I don't have to talk to him and he has no business interfering with our affairs."

Chirac had spoken of his "concern and disagreement" with the decision and stressed that the lives of French television journalists Jean-Jacques Le Garrec and Roland Madura were the "responsibility" of the Philippine government.

Estrada struck after months of frustrating negotiations, during which the Abu Sayyaf would ransom off one batch of captives while snatching new ones.

None of the hostages has been found four days later amid government warnings that there were "no 100 percent guarantees" that all would be rescued. But Filipinos across the political spectrum urged the troops on.

"Of course, in any operations you cannot be assured of perfect execution of any operation because the place is too big," Estrada said, referring to the jungle-clad 897 square-kilometer island.

Philippine newspapers were in jingoistic mood on Tuesday, with the Malaya (Free) daily blasting "the gall of these Gauls to tell us how to handle" the hostage crisis.

"The reactions voiced by the French and German leadership have at least shown us they have no concern whatsoever for the welfare and security of the Filipinos -- their selfish concern is exclusively for their own 'white' nationals," Philippine Star publisher Max Soliven wrote.

French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said at a European Union foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels on Monday that the group reiterated its plea to Filipino authorities that "any action they take should not endanger the lives of the hostages."

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad expressed hope on Tuesday that the lives of hostages, including three Malaysians, held by Abu Sayyaf gunmen will not be endangered by a Philippine army offensive.

"We want to ensure that the lives of the hostages are not endangered in whatever the Philippines has to do and this we have conveyed to them," Mahathir told a news conference in Sabah state, reported by the national news agency Bernama.

Reports from the Philippines said Tuesday that the captives had been sighted and were being used as human shields by Abu Sayyaf, which claims to be fighting for a breakaway Islamic state in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines.

Mahathir said that Malaysia would not interfere in he views as an internal matter of the neighboring Southeast Asian country, but anything that endangered the lives of the hostages "is not something that we can accept."

"We know what they are doing and why they are doing it," Mahathir said, "but we cannot really interfere because basically this is something that is being done in their own country."

Mahathir was also asked whether he was confident whether new security measures to prevent more kidnappings would be effective, including beefing up troop levels and naval and air patrols.