Formal talks launched on release of RP hostages
Formal talks launched on release of RP hostages
BANDANG, Philippines (AFP): Government negotiators and rebel leaders Saturday held their first formal talks over the release of 21 mostly foreign hostages being held by the Abu Sayyaf group.
"The negotiators and the (Abu Sayyaf) met for the formal meeting to secure the release of the 21 hostages and study the demands of the rebels," a close aide of top government negotiator Roberto Aventajado told reporters.
Four of the five Abu Sayyaf leaders expected to attend turned up for the meeting. They smiled but refused to be photographed as they entered an elementary school where the talks are being held.
Outside, scores of Abu Sayyaf guerrillas armed with rifles and wearing ski masks milled around with journalists.
The meeting is being held at Bandang village near the costal town of Talipao in southern Jolo island where the hostages have been held since their abduction from Sipadan, near Malaysia, on April 23.
The rebels fled to Talipao from Patikul with the hostages on Friday, abruptly canceling a scheduled meeting with negotiators after reportedly being unnerved by a large military presence at the meeting venue.
The Abu Sayyaf, who are fighting for an independent state in the southern Philippines, are holding nine Malaysians, a German family of three, a French couple, two Finns, a South African couple, two Filipinos and a Lebanese.
The military has been kept far away from the meeting Saturday, and the venue is secured only by provincial police guards.
President Joseph Estrada's special envoy Aventajado is leading the five-member panel of negotiators, comprising Sulu province governor Abdusakur Tan, local peace advocate Farouq Hussein, Islamic scholar Ghazali Ibrahim, and independent mediator and former Libyan envoy to the Philippines, Abdul Rajab Azzarouq.
Leaders of the Abu Sayyaf at the talks including strongman Galib Andang, better known as Commander Robot.
The government and the kidnappers have had informal talks through emissaries but formal negotiations have been delayed by skirmishes, guerrilla demands for new government negotiators and a lack of coordination within the state negotiating panel.
President Joseph Estrada is under pressure from foreign governments to bring a quick resolution to the hostage crisis. Negotiators have warned that any monetary demands by the Abu Sayyaf leaders could scupper the long-awaited talks.
Officials have said they expect the negotiations will eventually boil down to the payment of a ransom.
Two political demands by the rebels -- an independent Islamic state and the setting up of an international commission to protect Filipino Muslims in the neighboring Malaysian state of Sabah -- have been rejected.
A breakthrough in the formal talks could lead to the release of several ailing hostages, including German teacher Renate Wallert.