No release of Philippine hostages until
Wednesday
JOLO, Philippines (Reuters) - A
group of mostly foreign hostages held by Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines will
not be freed until Wednesday at the earliest, the chief negotiator working for their
release said Monday.
Robert Aventajado, an adviser
to Philippine President Joseph Estrada and the head of the hostage negotiating team, said
there would be no release Tuesday as had been expected.
``Not tomorrow (Tuesday),'' he
told Reuters. ``At the earliest it will be Wednesday.''
Aventajado did not say why
there had been a delay, but other sources close to the negotiations said the Abu Sayyaf
rebels were not willing to release all 17 hostages at the same time. Negotiators wanted
them all set free, the sources said.
Speculation of the imminent
release of the hostages, most of whom were kidnapped in April from a Malaysian diving
resort, has been high this week following newspaper reports of an initiative by Libya to
come to a deal with the rebels.
A Libyan chartered plane from
Tripoli landed in Manila late Monday, officials said.
The arrival of the Ilyushin
aircraft appeared to fit in with comments from officials and diplomats in Lebanon that the
hostages, who include a Lebanese-born woman, would be released within the next day or two.
The hostages will be flown to
Tripoli where they will be handed over to their respective governments, the sources in
Lebanon said.
Earlier in the day, hopes of a
quick release were doused when Rajab Azzarouq, the Libyan negotiator, said after a visit
to the Abu Sayyaf rebel lair that more work needed to be done before any release.
Positive Signs, But No
Hard Word
``We are proceeding in a
positive way. There will be more hard work...It may take some time. I cannot say much,''
Azzarouq, Libya's former ambassador to the Philippines, told reporters.
The separatist Abu Sayyaf group
kidnapped 21 people from a Malaysian resort on April 23 and took them to Jolo, an island
960 km (600 miles) south of Manila where they have hideouts in the hills.
Six Malaysians and a German
woman have been released but the rebels still hold 14 people from the group -- three
Malaysians, two Germans, three French including the Lebanese-born woman given French
citizenship while in custody, two Finns, two South Africans and two Filipinos.
The rebels have also detained a
three-member French television crew who were reporting on the crisis.
Confirming he was also trying
to secure the freedom of the French reporters, Azzarouq said: ``We are here also for the
French journalists.. I tried to find out how they are. They are ok.''
Farouk Hussain, a Muslim leader
on Jolo who is part of the negotiating team, also said a quick release of the hostages was
possible but there were many problems.
``We want a quick release but
we are dealing with unpredictable situations,'' he told Reuters. ``We cannot tell exactly
(whether it will be) tomorrow or after tomorrow.''
No Ransom
Azzarouq and Philippine
officials have denied reports that Libya would pay a ransom. They have said Libya might be
willing to finance development projects in the poverty-stricken southern Philippines which
would provide employment for local residents.
But diplomats and officials on
Jolo have said large sums of money would change hands and that a deal was near.
The Philippine military said
recently the rebels had collected about 245 million pesos ($5.46 million) in ransom for
those already released.
Local police sources said the
rebels were demanding up to $1 million for each of the Caucasians and about $350,000 each
for the Asian captives.
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