Philippine negotiator confident of freeing
American hostage
MANILA, Sept 3 (AFP) - A
Philippine government negotiator said Sunday he was confident that an American held
hostage by Muslim extremists would walk free within two weeks.
Munib Estino, vice governor of
Sulu province which includes Jolo island where American Jeffrey Schilling is held, said he
would initiate talks as soon as President Joseph Estrada gave him the green light.
A cabinet-level security forum
on Saturday named Estino as the lead negotiator for Schilling, who was abducted by the
Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf on August 27 while visiting Jolo with his Filipina girlfriend.
Estino told ABS-CBN television
in Manila he was confident he was the best man for the job and expected Schilling to be
free within two weeks once negotiations officially began Sunday or Monday.
"Two weeks would be too
long to negotiate," Estino said. "In the first place, I am a native of that
province. Number two, we can readily understand each other. I know them (Abu Sayyaf) from
head to toe."
Estino earlier this year
secured the release of two Filipina teachers and a 16-year-old boy who were abducted by
the same Abu Sayyaf faction that now holds Schilling.
Abu Sabaya, a spokesman for the
faction, has threatened to behead the 24-year-old Oakland resident if the US does not free
Ramzi Yousef, jailed for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New york.
He denied earlier reports that
the Abu Sayyaf asked for a 10 million dollar ransom for Schilling.
Sabaya asked for American food
rations and medicines to be delivered to the rebel hideout in Jolo, saying Schilling
refused to eat root crops and was having a hard time adjusting.
Schilling, described by US
officials as an innocent tourist with health problems, has gone on a hunger strike, Sabaya
said.
The Philippine National Red
Cross told AFP Sunday that it had designated a representative to coordinate a mercy
mission for Schilling, but had yet to secure clearance from Estino and the military.
The representative, who
"speaks the Abu Sayyaf dialect", is expected to arrive in Jolo either on Sunday
or Monday, Red Cross spokeswoman Tess Usapdin said in Manila.
"We will act on the
request after we have made the necessary coordinations with all parties concerned. We have
to get clearance to also protect our workers," Usapdin said.
Schilling was abducted hours
after another Abu Sayyaf faction led by Ghalib Andang, alias Commander Robot, freed the
first batch of western hostages who had been held for four months in another Jolo area.
Andang is still holding six
Europeans and 18 Filipino hostages.
Four of the six Europeans -- a
Frenchman, a German and two Finns -- were among the original 21 hostages abducted by the
group from the Malaysian resort of Sipadan in April while the two others are journalists
from France-2 television abducted while covering the crisis.
Chief government hostage
negotiator Roberto Aventajado has distanced himself from the the Schilling abduction,
saying his mandate was to secure the release of the original Sipadan hostages.
Aventajado on Saturday said he
expected that all six remaining European captives, along with a Filipino dive instructor
who was among the 21 original hostages, would be freed by next weekend.
He said he was waiting for the
arrival this week of Libyan mediator Rajab Azzarouq from Tripoli.
Libya played a key role in
securing the release of some of the Sipadan hostages. Tripoli said it promised development
aid for Jolo but denied reports that it paid millions in ransom to the Abu Sayyaf.
The US government has flatly
rejected a Libyan offer of help in negotiating for Schilling.
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