RP says won't give in to hostage-takers
RP says won't give in to hostage-takers
JOLO, Philippines (Reuters): Philippine negotiators said on Thursday Manila will not give in to rebels holding 21 mostly foreign hostages, dashing hopes of a quick release of the captives, four of whom need urgent hospital treatment.
Chief negotiator Roberto Aventajado told Reuters the rebels could sink negotiations if they insisted on their demand for a independent Muslim homeland.
"If they insist on their original demand, that would be a deal-breaker," he said. "We want to clarify their position. We will look for a common ground."
The government wants the immediate release of four hostages, including a pregnant woman, who doctors say need hospitalization.
The four are German housewife Renate Wallert, South African Monique Strydom, French tourist Stephane Loisy and Malaysian Zulkarnai bin Hashim.
A medical team that visited the hostages last weekend said the pregnant Strydom needed tests, Wallert was suffering arthritic pains and complaining of bowel problems, Loisy was emotionally disturbed and Zulkarnai had suffered scorpion bites.
On Thursday, the hostages again vented their frustration at the delay in negotiations and the lack of reliable information.
"It's difficult for us to cope with this situation," Wallert's husband, Werner, told reporters visiting the camp.
"We have been kept as hostages for such a long time, creating mental problems definitely and physical problems, too," he said, repeating his pleas for his ailing wife to be freed quickly. "She is still an urgent case."
Finnish hostage Risto Mirco Vahanen said the group had been told they would be released soon, only to have their hopes dashed as the negotiations dragged on. He urged those involved to give them "true facts and not just illusions".
The hostages -- nine Malaysians, three Germans, two French nationals, two South Africans, two Finns, two Filipinos and a Lebanese -- were abducted from a Malaysian resort on April 23 and taken to Jolo, 960 km south of Manila.
They have been held in jungle hideouts, sometimes sleeping on the ground with just rice sacks to keep the heavy tropical rains off, and some have threatened to commit suicide.
Aventajado will not join other negotiators due to meet Abu Sayyaf guerrilla leader on Friday, but is due to join the resumption of formal talks on Saturday after a two-week break.
Another government negotiator and Sulu governor Abdusakur Tan told reporters the government wanted to end the seven-week drama peacefully rather than sending the army into the heavily defended Abu Sayyaf stronghold on the southern island of Jolo.
Asked about a rebel statement they would never abandon key demands, including an independent Islamic state, Tan said: "We will wait for them until they get tired and give in."
There had been faint hopes of the hostages being released soon. Earlier this week, the rebels had indicated they were willing to shorten the period of the hostages' captivity.
Tan sent an emissary to the remote rebel hideout on southern Jolo island on Thursday with fruit, chicken, eggs, vegetables and bread for the hostages.
A Philippine intelligence officer, who did not want to be named, said the military had received reports the rebels would swap a hostage for the mother of one of the guerrilla leaders, who has been detained by rivals.
Officials say the rebels have not formally demanded a ransom but guerrilla emissaries have reportedly demanded $20 million.
The protracted hostage crisis has embarrassed President Joseph Estrada's government which is also struggling to curb a surge of Islamic militancy in the country's main southern island of Mindanao and a wave of bombings in the capital Manila.
The Abu Sayyaf is the smallest of two guerrilla forces fighting for a Moslem state. Manila offers extra autonomy.
Twenty-six members of the largest group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), were due to stand trial in a Manila court on Thursday over the bombing of two shopping malls in the capital that killed one person and injured dozens.