KL envoys meet rebel leaders

KL envoys meet rebel leaders

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): Malaysia said on Saturday its diplomats met for the first time with leaders of rebels holding 21 mostly foreign hostages in the southern Philippines, but called their demands "vague".

"We have commenced discussions with the blessings of the Philippine government but we want the release of all the hostages, not only Malaysians," Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told reporters.

Syed Hamid said the Malaysian ambassador to the Philippines, Mohamed Arshad Hussain, and two other diplomats met four commanders from the fundamentalist Abu Sayyaf group in the coastal village of Taulug on Jolo Island on Thursday.

The minister said the rebels called for the establishment of a "Sabah Commission" to examine the welfare of tens of thousands of illegal Tausug Filipinos in Malaysia's Sabah state and wanted Kuala Lumpur to take a more active role in the negotiations.

Besides that, their demands "are rather vague", he said.

"We seem to be getting different indications on their demands which revolve more on the socio-economic issues and problems and the political problems that they face," the minister added.

The hostages -- nine Malaysians, three Germans, two French, two South Africans, two Finns, two Filipinos and one Lebanese -- were kidnapped from a Malaysian dive resort on April 23.