US backs negotiations, not military action, to
free hostages: Cohen
MANILA, Sept 15 (AFP) - The
United States supports negotiations -- not military action -- to free an American and 21
others held hostage by Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines, US Defense Secretary
William Cohen said Friday.
But the US military is prepared
to train crack Filipino counter-terrorism units in hostage rescues, Cohen told reporters
as he flew here at the start of a six-country Asian trip.
"We believe that the best
course of action in dealing with a hostage situation is negotiation. We do not support
paying ransom in any way, submitting to extortion," Cohen said.
"In the long term, we
believe the Philippine military needs to form the kind of special units that would be able
to conduct military operations under the right circumstances and (we) are prepared to work
with them in that regard," he said.
"But we don't support
paying ransom, and we support the continuation of negotiations as opposed to taking
military action," he said.
Cohen's arrival here comes amid
mounting public pressure for military action to free the hostages, one of whom has been
held since April 23, when the heavily armed Abu Sayyaf group seized its first group of
hostages from a Malaysian dive resort.
Jeffrey Schilling, 24, the sole
American hostage, was taken captive on August 23 after visiting the hideout of a faction
of Abu Sayyaf on Jolo island in the southern Philippines, a cauldron of rebellion,
kidnapping and piracy.
President Joseph Estrada cut
short a visit to the US Pacific Command in Hawaii earlier this week in the wake of a fresh
round of hostage-takings from a Malaysian resort.
Philippine newspapers reported
Thursday that the armed forces last month activated a counter-terrorist battalion
consisting of elite units from the army, navy and air force.
A Philippines military task
force is on Jolo island, where most of the hostages were being held, a Pentagon official
said.
US forces are currently taking
part in training exercises in the Philippines, but their presence is unrelated to the
hostage situation, Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said.
US Army Special Forces troops
and US air force personnel have joined Philippines troops in airborne "jump
school" training in central Luzon as part of an exercise that is due to conclude
September 19, he said.
Cohen, who is scheduled to meet
with Estrada over dinner Friday, said the Philippines had not yet requested the
counter-terrorism training.
"But it's a program that I
think will be important to them, and I will take up with them when I'm there," he
said.
The United States and the
Philippines have revived a century-old military relationship in the past two years,
quietly mending the break that came with the eviction of the US military from its
Philippines bases in 1991.
A visiting forces agreement
ratified last year by the Philippines senate opened the way for a resumption of joint
exercises and modest military aid to the dilapidated Philippines armed forces.
The United States is providing
UH-1H helicopters, a patrol boat and other surplus equipment.
Manila is the first stop on a
trip that also will take Cohen to Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea and Japan.
In Indonesia, Cohen will warn
the country's leaders that they must take strong action to curb the militia's in West
Timor and hold the military accountable for abuses.
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