GERMAN JOURNALIST'S RELEASE IN THE PHILIPPINES IMMINENT -
NEGOTIATOR
JOLO, Philippines, July 7 (AFP)
- Muslim extremist gunmen are expected to free a German journalist from among their 37
hostages in this southern Philippine island soon, a government negotiator said Friday.
Abu Sayyaf leader Radulan
Sajiron pledged to a government emissary that Andreas Lorenz, 48, would be freed as early
as Friday after the group called off his scheduled release overnight, provincial governor
Abdusakur Tan told reporters.
The Der Spiegel magazine
reporter was abducted on Sunday as he covered a 10-week-old hostage crisis which started
in the Malaysian resort of Sipadan on Easter Sunday.
The original captives included
three other Germans and seven fellow tourists from Finland, France, Lebanon, and South
Africa as well as 11 Malaysian and Filipino resort workers. One of the nine Malaysians was
freed last month.
Sajiron publicly denied having
abducted Lorenz in a letter to journalists here Friday.
But Tan said Sajiron assured
his emissary during a visit to the Abu Sayyaf hideout on Thursday afternoon that the group
had indeed detained the reporter and that he would be handed over without ransom.
Aside from the Westerners and
the resort workers, the Abu Sayyaf are holding two Filipino teachers and a high school
student they abducted from the nearby island of Basilan in March.
On Saturday they also detained
13 Filipino Christian preachers who paid money to visit their hideout and "pray
over" the hostages. Another Abu Sayyaf leader, Galib Andang on Thursday denied a
report that one of the evangelists had been beheaded.
The Abu Sayyaf kidnappers, who
style themselves as freedom fighters battling for an independent Muslim homeland, have
demanded a ransom of one million dollars each for their Easter Sunday hostages.
They have also made various
political demands.
There is rising concern here
for the the original hostages who have not been seen by outsiders this month amid
disturbing reports that the Sajiron and Andang factions were feuding over ransom money
they supposedly raised for the freed Malaysian hostage.
Influential Libyan mediator
Rajab Azzarouq was due here Friday to deliver an ultimatum to the kidnappers, governor Tan
said. He had aborted his flight to Jolo on Thursday due to bad weather in Manila.
Azzarouq, a former Libyan
ambassador to the Philippines who previously helped negotiate the release of hostages in
the southern Philippines, said on Wednesday he would tell the Abu Sayyaf to accept a
package of development aid in exchange for the 20 original hostages.
He said he would also warn the
rebels that "if you don't accept our package, you are on your own and you have to
face the music, which could be tragic."
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