OIC URGES ABU SAYYAF TO RELEASE ALL HOSTAGES
The influential Organization of
Islamic Conference (OIC) scolded the Abu Sayyaf yesterday and urged the extremist Muslim
group to release all its remaining mostly foreign hostages.
"Even if they aspired for
some vindication, political or otherwise, this should not be the kind of behavior,"
the Malaysian news agency Bernama quoted outgoing OIC Chairman Youssouf Quedraogo
as saying.
"We think the best way is
to release all of them," Quedraogo stressed.
The OIC earlier called on
Muslim minorities to respect the laws and sovereignty of their respective countries.
But the Abu Sayyaf reiterated
it will reject the Philippine government's offer of an expanded autonomy and continue its
fight for an independent Islamic state in Mindanao.
The group's hardline position
was contained in a statement intended for the 56-member OIC which is currently meeting in
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The letter did not mention the
20 hostages the Abu Sayyaf has been holding in its jungle lair in Talipao town in Jolo and
three Filipino teachers in the nearby island province of Basilan.
"We will never compromise
our birth right to rule our homeland," the statement, signed by six Abu Sayyaf
leaders, said.
The extremists also said they
are opposed to a federal system of government as proposed by some senators.
One Malaysian captive was
released last week in what government officials said was a "gesture of goodwill"
by the by the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers.
Meanwhile, Sulu Gov. Abdusakur
Tan, a member of the government panel negotiating for the release of the hostages in Sulu,
said he has refused to allow a group of Christian fundamentalists to visit the Abu Sayyaf
lair to persuade the kidnappers to free their captives.
Tan said if the Jesus Miracle
Crusade (JMC) led by Wilde Almeda insisted on going to the Abu Sayyaf lair, they would be
on their own.
The JMC reportedly offered
$3,000 and 50 sacks of rice to gain entry into the Abu Sayyaf lair and conduct a prayer
meeting in the area.
However, the Abu Sayyaf
rejected unofficial emissaries and demanded that only one government team should talk with
them.
The call for a single channel
of negotiations came as France, Germany and Finland were reportedly under pressure to
follow Malaysia's move to launch backdoor talks for the victim's freedom.
Abu Sayyaf senior leader Galib
Andang alias Commander Robot urged the Estrada administration to speed up the
negotiations, saying several of the foreigners have been sick after more than two months
in captivity due to hunger.
"The government must send
only one team so as not to hamper the negotiations," Andang said in a tape-recorded
message sent to the local media.
"We will not listen to
others who boast they could win the release of the hostages," he added.
The government negotiating
panel headed by Presidential Adviser on Flagship Programs Roberto Aventajado was still
trying to set a second meeting with the kidnappers.
So far, the two panels
officially met only once, last May 27, but no significant headway has been attained.
Andang and some of his comrades
have asked for $1 million in ransom for each of the hostages, but other leaders of the
kidnap group made political demands, including the setting up of a separate Bangsa Moro
state in the South.
The Abu Sayyaf has also offered
to swap the remaining eight Malaysian hostages with an elderly Filipino Muslim serving
life term on drug charges in Malaysia.
Vice President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo who is currently in Geneva, Switzerland said the foreign ministers of
Germany, France and Finland have told her the unexpected release of Malaysian hostage
Zulkurnain bin Hashim has put pressure on their respective governments to effect the
release of their nationals using backdoor channels.
The reason for Zulkurnain's
release had remained unclear, with both governments of Malaysia and the Philippines
denying any ransom payment.
Arroyo said she had discussed
with the three European nationals the possibility of offering development aid or
humanitarian assistance to Jolo instead of ransom.
In Manila, visiting British
Foreign Minister of State John Battle announced an emergency assistance aid worth P16
million for people displaced by the fighting in Mindanao. The fund will be dispensed
mainly through OXFAM, a British non-government organization which has been working in
refugee shelters in Mindanao.
Andang said the release of the
remaining hostages depended on the Estrada administration.
He also asked journalists to
stop visiting their camp where the captives were staying.
Apart from the eight
Malaysians, still being held by the Abu Sayyaf are a German family of three, a South
African couple, two French nationals, two Finns, two Filipinos and a Lebanese.
The victims were seized on
April 23 from the famous Malaysian resort of Sipadan, then taken by boat across the sea
border to nearby Jolo.
Top Abu Sayyaf leaders, among
their chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani and his spokesman, Abu Asmad Salayuddi, reportedly met
the other day in Barangay Bandang in Talipao to discuss the fate of the 20 hostages.
"They seem to be cooking
up something," the source said.
Others who attended the secret
meeting were Andang, Abu Sayyaf chief of staff Sahiron Radullah, Mujib Susukan, Abu
Jumdain, Nadzmi Sadalla alias Commander Global, Jumdain Sajirul alias Black Killer, Ustadz
Ommal Sahibul and Paradja Said.
Another source said the
kidnappers were planning to set free six of the 20 hostages, mostly like all Malaysians in
a bid to appease the Malaysian authorities.
The Philippine Navy apprehended
over the weekend two fishing boats off Sulu in an attempt to prove to the Abu Sayyaf that
the government is enforcing the ban on commercial fishing in the rich waters of the
island.
Commodore Elonor Padre
identified the fishing boats as F/B Sailor I and F/B Sailor II.
In another development, police
authorities have placed the entire Southern Mindanao region under double red alert amid
threats of more bomb attacks following the spate of explosions in General Santos City last
Saturday.
"We are not taking things
for granted. We could not be just sit down and wait things to happen. We have put our men
on double red alert," said Senior Inspector Matthew Baccay, spokesman for the
Southern Mindano regional police command.
Security measures were
intensified in public places such as markets, churches, schools, shopping malls, sea ports
and the Davao International Airport. - Roel Pareño, Edith Regalado, AP, AFP
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