CONCERNS FOR MISCARRIAGED HOSTAGE
Concerns mounted for the
hostages after the group threatened to cut medical supplies to foreign captives, including
a South African who suffered a miscarriage.
Emissaries tried to contact the
extremist group in Jolo to check the condition of the 10 foreign tourists in the wake of a
taped message from leader Galib Andang on Friday saying South African Monique Strydom had
a miscarriage.
Andang also said his group was
cutting off the supply of medicine to the tourist hostages -- three Germans, two French,
two Finns, two South Africans and a Lebanese -- in order to ""pressure'' the
government.
Sources close to the
negotiations said that a special medical emissary would go to the Abu Sayyaf's jungle
hideout to follow up on the condition of the foreign tourists.
Earlier, government negotiators
had opened up a ""humanitarian channel'' for the hostages under which a
government doctor regularly visited them and medical supplies and food were sent to the
captives.
Last month, however, the Abu
Sayyaf separated the tourists from the Asian hostages -- nine Malaysians and two Filipinos
-- in order to make any government rescue effort more difficult.
The kidnapped tourists have not
been allowed to see a doctor since June 2.
In Manila on Friday, chief
negotiator Robert Aventajado expressed sorrow at the South African's miscarriage, saying
""it's really a precious baby because she is already 37 years old and this is
her first pregnancy and it's really a very sad moment for me to hear that she lost her
baby.'' --AP, AFP
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