RP kidnappers asked to put demands in writing

RP kidnappers asked to put demands in writing

JOLO, Philippines (Agencies): Philippines President Joseph
Estrada on Monday told guerrillas holding 21 mostly foreign
hostages to put their demands in writing as Manila prepared for
lengthy talks with the captors.

Government negotiators are to return to this southern island
on Tuesday after consultations with Estrada during which he gave
the go ahead for talks partially within a framework proposed by
the Abu Sayyaf rebels, senior aides said.

But the government rejected outright the guerrillas demand
that the military pull out from the proposed talks venue.

Press Secretary Ricardo Puno said the soldiers had already
given "enough space" after they lifted a military cordon around
the Abu Sayyaf hideout here.

Puno said the president had demanded a written document,
"because this is the only paper that you are going to hold them
to. Because later on they might say, 'that's not my demand,
that's his.'"

Roberto Aventajado, Estrada's point man in the Jolo crisis,
said negotiations should resume on Wednesday and added that the
government was prepared for a long process, "even months if
necessary."

Nine Malaysians, three Germans, two French nationals, two
Finns, two South Africans, two Filipinos and a Lebanese entered
their 23rd day in captivity on Monday after the Abu Sayyaf
ignored government pleas for the release of ailing German hostage
Renate Wallert on humanitarian grounds.

The 57-year-old Wallert, who suffers from high blood pressure,
is in "very bad" shape and is unconscious most of the time, two
European journalists who visited the rebel camp said on Monday.

"The German woman is not doing well. She's most of the time
unconscious, and when she's dreaming" she would utter things
about Germany, Florence Compain of the French newspaper Le Figaro
told colleagues here.

When she wakes up "she's crying. She cries a lot. She's really
bad."

In Berlin, the German foreign ministry called Monday on
journalists to show "responsibility" in their reporting about the
21 hostages held by rebels on the Philippines island of Jolo.

In a statement, the ministry also issued a joint warning with
the French foreign ministry to people not to travel to the region
of West Mindanao and Jolo in particular.

Germans already at the scene were advised to show the
"greatest caution" and to leave immediately for a safer area.

The ministry called on "all media to show particular
responsibility and reflection in their reporting of the hostage-
taking and take into account at all times the well-being and
interests of the hostages and their families."

The Philippine foreign secretary warned on Monday that his
government cannot take responsibility for the safety of
journalists who attempt to visit the jungle hide-out where rebels
are holding 21 hostages.

Nine journalists, mostly foreigners, were still in the
mountains on Monday after an attempt to visit the hostages,
fellow journalists said. They said one French man had called his
editors and said they were safe and in the Abu Sayyaf rebel camp.

In recent days large numbers of journalists, mostly from
France and Germany, have climbed the mountains where the Abu
Sayyaf are hiding out, seeking interviews. Authorities are unsure
how many have gone because there is no press registration system,
and most have returned safely.

The 1,000-member Abu Sayyaf, the smaller of two Muslim groups
fighting for a separate state in the southern Philippines, raided
the Malaysian resort of Sipadan off Malaysian Borneo on Easter
Sunday and kidnapped 10 tourists and 11 resort workers, taking
them by boat across the sea border to Jolo.

President Estrada's envoy Aventajado said after a meeting with
the leader that the Abu Sayyaf had evolved an apparent collective
leadership after their founder Abdurajak Janjalani was shot dead
by police in 1998.