FRUSTRATED EUROPEANS MULL EFFORTS TO FREE HOSTAGES IN PHILIPPINES
JOLO, Philippines (AFP) -
Germany, France and Finland were under pressure to launch backdoor efforts to win the
release of their nationals among 20 hostages held by Muslim extremists in the Philippines,
Vice President Gloria Arroyo said Wednesday.
The message was conveyed to
Arroyo in Poland on Monday when she met the foreign ministers from the three European
countries and Finland to brief them on the 66-day hostage crisis in southern Jolo island.
Arroyo, in a statement released
here, said she won the backing of the ministers to provide develpment aid instead of a
ransom payout for the gunmen.
The Abu Sayyaf kidnappers freed
Malaysian hostage Zulkarnain Hashim last weekend after a series of backdoor negotiations,
and there were indications more Malaysians will be released.
The European ministers --
Joschka Fischer of Germany, France's Hubert Vedrine and Finnish Secretary of State Jukka
Valtasaari -- told Arroyo the Malaysian's release "has put pressure on their
governments to likewise effect the release of their nationals using back channels similar
to the one believed to have been used by Malaysia," a statment from the vice
president's office said.
Three Germans, two Finns and
two French nationals as well as eight Malaysians, two Filipinos, two South Africans and a
Lebanese are being held by the Abu Sayyaf gunmen on Jolo. They were taken there by boat
after being abducted from a Malaysian resort on April 23.
Arroyo, who met the ministers
on the sidelines of a conference on the "Community of Democracies," was told by
Fischer that while the no-ransom policy stands, "such other avenues as developmental
aid could be tapped."
The Abu Sayyaf hideout in Jolo
island buzzed with activity Wednesday as sets of emissaries redoubled efforts to win the
freedom of the hostages.
An Abu Sayyaf spokesman told
reporters here that four of the guerrilla group's five most senior leaders were
"meeting with some people" whom he did not identify.
Sources close to the
negotiations said a Chinese-Filipino businessman friend of President Joseph Estrada as
well as former Filipino Muslim rebels now based in the Malaysian state of Sabah were also
on the island and believed to be conducting negotiations.
The former rebels are believed
to be working for Malaysian interests and working exclusively to win the release of the
eight remaining Malaysians, the sources said.
Formal negotiations with the
Estrada government bogged down early this month after the kidnappers, who style themselves
as Muslim independence fighters, sought political concessions deemed
"impossible" by Manila -- on top of a ransom of one million dollars per hostage.
Zulkarnain's release was
attributed to the efforts of Estrada friend Lee Ping Hui, though the price for his liberty
was unclear.
Manila and Kuala Lumpur have
both denied they paid a cash ransom.
Estrada's spokesman Ricardo
Puno said on Tuesday that though no formal talks were being held, "we have moved from
square one."
Meanwhile, Estrada's national
security adviser Alexander Aguirre said from Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday that Malaysia has
rejected the Abu Sayyaf's latest demand that an elderly Filipino Muslim held in a Kota
Kinabalu jail be freed. Press reports said the man was held on drugs charges.
"They have their own
judicial system just like we do. They cannot just release a prisoner without a judicial
process," Aguirre told a Manila radio station by telephone.
Back to Sipadan Hostages News
Back
to This Week's Borneo News |
