| FILIPINO MUSLIM
REBELS BRING TOURIST HOSTAGES OUT OF HIDING JOLO, Philippines (AFP) - Filipino Muslim rebels have brought out of hiding
10 foreign tourists they had separated from their 11 other hostages after authorities
threatened to cut off their food supplies, an informed source told AFP Monday.
The Abu Sayyaf rebels had
separated the tourists from their Asian hostages for over a week to foil any military
rescue attempt.
"They brought them back
together today because they know food aid will be cut," the source said, adding that
both groups of hostages were now in the Tiis Kutung district of Talipao town, located on
the southern island of Jolo.
"The main reason is
because of the food supply."
The return of the foreign
tourists could not be independently confirmed.
A government emissary who was
dispatched to confirm their return was unable to make it to the hostage holding area late
Monday.
Authorities earlier Monday
withheld food deliveries to the hostages to force the guerrillas to reveal the whereabouts
of the 10 tourists.
The Abu Sayyaf seized the 21
hostages -- two French, three Germans, two South Africans, two Finns, nine Malaysians, two
Filipinos and a Lebanese -- from a Malaysian resort of Sipadan on April 23.
The Malaysians and Filipinos
were workers at the resort or government employees.
The rebels, who brought the
hostages by sea to this southern Philippine island, initially allowed them to receive food
supplies and medical visits from government emissaries after the government opened a
"humanitarian corridor" for the captives last month.
However the rebels separated
and hid the tourists on June 9 for fear the government would launch a rescue attempt.
Attempts by government envoys to see the tourist hostages have been turned down, prompting
a halt in the delivery of food supplies until the tourist hostages were brought to the
original holding area.
Doctors have expressed concern
over the health of the tourists, who last received medical attention on June 2.
Chief government negotiator
Roberto Aventajado said Monday that German, Finnish and French doctors were preparing to
go up the Abu Sayyaf camp to check on the medical condition of the hostages, some of whom
are ailing or believed to suffer psychological problems.
The Abu Sayyaf kidnappers who
style themselves as independence fighters are asking for a ransom of 21 million dollars as
well as a list of political concessions for the release of the hostages, a government
emissary recently told AFP.
But Philippine President Joseph
Estrada's Press Secretary Ricardo Puno said Monday there had been no talk of paying such
ransom.
"We are not moving toward
any payment of ransom. We're not talking about ransom. The official policy of the
government remains: no ransom will be paid," he told reporters in Manila.
"We continue to negotiate
but we do not talk about ransom," he said.
Earlier Monday, chief
negotiator Aventajado warned parties against offering ransom to the Abu Sayyaf gunmen.
"At the end of the day it
won't be good for the hostages and it won't be good for the government," Aventajado
said.
President Joseph Estrada's
chief aide, Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora, said on Monday that Manila has warned
foreign governments of the danger of resorting to ransom to secure the release of their
citizens.
The German newspaper Welt am
Sonntag on Sunday reported that Berlin is readying aid equivalent to a ransom in the form
of technical support for infrastructure projects on the southern Philippine island.
Sources close to the
negotiations said ransom talks were still going on in Jolo after the Abu Sayyaf offered to
free Filipino, French, German, Lebanese, and South African women hostages in exchange for
200 million pesosmillion dollars) in cash.
Back to Sipadan Hostages News
Back
to This Week's Borneo News |
