| GERMANY:
MORE AID FOR HOSTAGES Berlin is set to raise its
development aid to the Philippines for the release of hostages held by Muslim rebels in
Jolo
BERLIN -- Germany is ready to
increase its development aid to the Philippines in exchange for the release of hostages
held by Muslim rebels on the Philippine island of Jolo, the German ambassador to Manila
said.
""We have sent out a
broad message to say that additional aid would be granted if the situation was resolved,''
Ambassador Wolfgang Goettelmann said in comments in yesterday's edition of the Financial
Times Deutschland.
German Foreign Minister Joschka
Fischer discussed the issue with Philippine Vice-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at a
meeting in June, the German diplomat said.
""Mr Fischer
certainly refused to pay a ransom but accepted that one can use channels such as aid
development,'' he said.
A German foreign ministry
spokesman refused to comment on the report.
""We cannot comment
for the time being on negotiations being held. That could endanger the hostages,'' he
said.
The report came after
56-year-old German hostage Renate Wallert was released on Monday, after 12 weeks of
captivity by Abu Sayyaf Muslim separatists on the island of Jolo in southern Philippines.
Libyan hostage negotiator Rajab
Azzarouq also told the German daily Die Welt that the release of the hostages depended
solely on meeting the concrete and material conditions demanded by the kidnappers.
""If the rebels'
conditions are met, we will obtain everything we want.
""They will free the
hostages in groups of two or three. We only have to fulfil the conditions,'' he told the
daily.
He said the rebels' demands
were of a material nature.
""We can call that
"aid for development projects' and we will call it that later,'' he said.
Meanwhile, Mrs Wallert arrived
home in Goettingen on Tuesday and was admitted to the University Clinic, where doctors who
examined her said she was in ""surprisingly good condition''.
She was discharged that
afternoon. --AFP
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