RP kidnappers abort negotiations, flee with hostages

RP kidnappers abort negotiations, flee with hostages

JOLO, Philippines (AFP): Separatist rebels aborted a meeting
with Philippine negotiators on Thursday and fled with their 21
hostages, apparently fearing an attack by the army, a senior aide
to President Joseph Estrada said.

The breakdown dealt a blow to efforts to win the immediate
release of German hostage Renate Wallert, who suffers from high
blood pressure and is feared to have had a stroke.

The negotiators had been unable to re-establish contact with
the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers following a redeployment of troops
surrounding their hideout, presidential adviser Roberto
Aventajado said.

"It's the wrong signal given by the army," he told reporters.
The army "cannot play games with us," he said, referring to
repeated warnings by negotiators that a stepped up military
presence would interfere with efforts to free the hostages.

But Aventajado described the communication breakdown as a
"temporary setback" to efforts to win the freedom of Wallert and
the 20 other mostly foreign captives.

The separatist rebels had pledged during their first meeting
with the negotiators on this southern island on Wednesday that
they would respond within 24 hours to a request to release 57
year-old Wallert who requires urgent medical treatment.

The Abu Sayyaf rebels are also holding Wallert's husband and
son, as well as nationals from France, Finland, South Africa,
Lebanon, the Philippines and Malaysia. They were snatched from a
Malaysian resort on April 23 and taken to Jolo island in the
southern Philippines.

An AFP reporter who visited the military deployment on a
highway near the town of Patikul said the area was teeming with
soldiers, military trucks and armored troop carriers.

"We clarified this matter and asked the military to go away
and we agreed on a place where they could be (redeployed),"
Aventajado said.

The aide said he had reported to Estrada about the setback,
and the president "was not very happy."

Former Libyan ambassador to the Philippines Rajab Azzarouq,
who is helping Manila negotiate with the Abu Sayyaf, told
reporters: This incident can happen anytime in such a situation
with lots of tension."

He said the rebels "are quite alert about it and they moved
from the place where we met" on Wednesday.

Aventajado said he obtained assurances from the army that the
incident would not happen again."

"We are trying to re-establish contact with the rebels but
they moved somewhere else so no contact today," he said, adding
it could take time to renew contact as the army would only be
moving to the pre-arranged positions on Friday morning.

As negotiations were disrupted, European Union foreign policy
chief Javier Solana said in Brussels that mediation with the
rebels would be long and difficult.

"The important thing is that the solution will not be
military, that it will be a political solution," said Solana, who
returned from Manila where he held talks with Estrada.

The governments of the hostages are getting increasingly
uneasy over the fate of their citizens.

Envoys from Germany, France, Finland and Malaysia, accompanied
by the current Libyan ambassador, called on Defense Secretary
Orlando Mercado on Thursday to express their concerns.

"We discussed things to make the hostages comfortable,"
Mercado told reporters later.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said in Berlin that
the "physical integrity of the hostages remains our priority aim,
above all else."

The Malaysian Red Crescent Society on Thursday airlifted here
medical supplies for the hostages.

"Our main priority is to treat all hostages and if possible,
make sure that those who are sick are released," said Bahari Abu
Mansor, one of three Malaysian doctors who arrived with the
supplies.

The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) said it was
prepared to send envoys to try to help ensure the peaceful
release of the hostages, but Manila has made it clear it will not
accept international mediation.