Philippines hostage crisis into fifth month
after Libyan deal collapses
MANILA, Aug 22 (AFP) - An
international hostage crisis is set to enter its fifth month in the Philippines as
negotiators attempted Tuesday to revive a Libyan-backed deal which came close to winning
the release of 12 westerners among 28 captives last weekend.
Tripoli remained silent and the
Abu Sayyaf kidnappers lay low in their southern Philippine stronghold on Jolo island as
Manila awaited their responses to a proposed formula tabled by Philippine negotiator
Roberto Aventajado to revive negotiations.
Meanwhile, the exodus of
residents around the Abu Sayyaf jungle hideouts continued Tuesday amid fears the armed
forces were preparing an assault once the hostages are freed, local officials said.
A Libyan foundation headed by a
son of Colonel Moamer Kadhafi had offered "development aid" to Muslim areas in
the mainly Roman Catholic Philippines in exchange for two Finns, two French nationals, a
Franco-Lebanese, two Germans and two South Africans seized from neighboring Malaysia on
April 23 as well as three French journalists abducted in Jolo last month.
But the Abu Sayyaf called off
the swap at the 11th hour Saturday, purportedly because they feared a military attack once
their human shields are released.
Philippine government sources
however later said the gunmen wanted more ransom after a Libyan envoy brought them only
about four million dollars.
The gunmen also hold 16
Filipinos. They have so far freed nine Malaysian, two German and five Filipino captives
for ransoms reportedly totalling 5.5 million dollars.
The Philippine Inquirer
newspaper, citing a high-level source from the Philippine presidential palace, reported
Tuesday that the Kadhafi Charity Organisation agreed to raise an extra 12 million dollars
ransom on top of the "aid" reportedly worth 25 million dollars.
The charity also asked for
three days to raise the cash, it added.
The Tripoli group had
threatened to pull out of the talks after Saturday's debacle, but its mediator Rajab
Azzarouq has since said Tripoli would pursue the initiative.
Lebanese Water Resources
Minister Soleiman Traboulsi told the Lebanese ANI news agency on Monday that he remained
optimistic the Islamic rebels would soon release their captives, after seeing his Tripoli
trip to fetch Franco-Lebanese hostage Marie Moarbes come to naught.
"Negotiations will
continue and efforts will be deployed, and I tend to be optimistic about the matter,"
Traboulsi said.
Moarbes was with a group of
western holidaymakers kidnapped from a Malaysian diving resort on April 23, and has been
held since then in the Jolo jungle.
Luis Go, an official of the
local government of Jolo, told reporters Tuesday that the local authorities are preparing
an auditorium to temporarily house the evacuees, which village officials had estimated at
about 7,000 people.
A military medical team arrived
from nearby Zamboanga city Tuesday accompanying a shipment of medicines and other relief
goods.
Jolo police chief Candido
Casimiro said in a radio interview that a number of evacuees have since returned to their
villages, adding that the navy and maritime police were conducting round the clock patrols
in the surrounding seas to prevent the Abu Sayyaf from acquiring more guns.
"I think government
efforts in patrolling the Sulu Sea is sufficient," he told DZMM radio.
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