| PHILIPPINE
NEGOTIATOR DISMISSES NEW DEMAND BY HOSTAGE TAKER JOLO, Philippines, June 9 (AFP) -
A key negotiator on Friday
dismissed a new demand by Philippine Muslim extremists holding 21 mostly foreign hostages
here to add three more people to the government negotiating team.
Abdusakur Tan, the governor of
Sulu province which covers Jolo island where the hostages are being held, said he had sent
an emissary overnight to verify reports that the Abu Sayyaf militants had made a new
demand.
"I told them that they are
so confusing. I told them it's only the president who appoints (negotiators). We will not
consider that (new demand)," Tan said in a radio interview.
Galib Andang, one of five
leaders of the Abu Sayyaf, told reporters who had joined a food convoy to the rebel
hideout Thursday they wanted a retired police general, a university professor and a third
person included in the government panel.
The current team headed by
senior presidential aide Roberto Aventajado includes Tan, former Libyan envoy to Manila
Raja Azzarouq, peace campaigner Parouk Hussin and Islamic scholar Ibrahim Ghazali.
Tan said Friday that another
rebel leader Mujib Susukan told his emissary to ignore the new demand.
"I sent an emissary last
night to ask if they are serious in their new demand because it seems that it's becoming
more confusing. Mujib said 'ignore that'".
Tan said he was unsure when
negotiations would resume for the freedom of the three Germans, a French couple, a Finnish
couple, two South Africans, a Lebanese, nine Malaysians and two Filipinos.
The European vacationers and
the Asians were abducted on April 23 from the Malaysian resort island of Sipadan and
brought across the sea border to the Abu Sayyaf sanctuary on Jolo island in the southern
Philippines.
Government negotiators held
their first and only face-to-face meeting with the kidnap leaders 13 days ago, althoug
hcontact through emissaries were kept open.
The government gave in to one
of the rebels' demands to ban large commercial fleets from the waters around Jolo, but
rejected two other conditions, including the establishment of an independent Islamic
state.
Negotiators have publicly
denied any demands for ransom, but one emissary said the Abu Sayyaf was seeking 21 million
dollars for the freedom of all the hostages.
Almost all previous Abu Sayyaf
kidnap victims have paid ransom, euphemistically called "board and lodging" fee,
according to relatives as well as police, military and local officials.
The Abu Sayyaf is the smaller
of two groups fighting for an Islamic state in the southern Philippines.
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