| Philippine
Rebels Release Hostage JOLO, Philippines (AP) - Muslim rebels freed a South African man on Monday,
leaving six foreigners and 12 Filipinos still in guerrilla hands on a remote Philippine
island.
``I'm over the moon,'' Callie
Strydom said. ``It's a different world out here.''
Strydom's wife, Monique, was
freed Sunday by the Abu Sayyaf rebels, along with three French women and a German man,
after Libya agreed to pay $1 million for each, negotiators said.
The hostages were to be flown
later Monday to Tripoli to meet with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. Libya has
long-standing ties to Muslim rebels in the mostly Catholic Philippines.
Libyan Ambassador Saleem Adam
dismissed allegations that his country was trying to improve its international image by
bankrolling the ransom. ``This is a humanitarian mission, he said. ``It has no other
motivation.''
Strydom was released despite a
rebel demand earlier Monday that negotiators bring them two guerrillas arrested last week
carrying bags of cash before they release more hostages held on remote Jolo island.
Negotiators said they were unable to locate the two arrested guerrillas, who were freed on
bail Saturday.
The cash is believed to be part
of the estimated $5.5 million in ransom paid to the rebels for the previous release of
nine Malaysians and a German.
Most of the foreign hostages
were kidnapped April 23 from Malaysia's Sipadan diving resort. The Abu Sayyaf also seized
three French television journalists last month who were covering the hostage crisis, and a
dozen Filipino Christian evangelists who visited the rebels' camp to pray for the
captives.
The rebels have insisted on
freeing the hostages in batches to avert any military attack.
However, chief government
negotiator Robert Aventajado said a ``global agreement'' has been reached for the release
of all the hostages within two weeks.
Freedom was bittersweet for the
hostages released Sunday, most of whom wore simple rubber sandals and carried their meager
possessions in rice sacks when they met their ambassadors after stepping off helicopters
in the port city of Zamboanga, not far from Jolo.
``We're not happy because there
are people left behind,'' said French-Lebanese citizen Marie Moarbes. ``It's not finished
yet for us.''
The others freed were Sonia
Wendling of France, South African Monique Strydom, German Werner Wallert, and Maryse
Burgot, a French journalist.
``My son is still there. You
don't expect me to be happy,'' Wallert said.
The mood was much more upbeat
later on a Philippine air force cargo plane that ferried the released hostages to the
Philippine city of Cebu, where they spent Sunday night.
They clinked cans of soda and
wolfed down cheeseburgers and pizza, their first meal since leaving the rebel camp some
six hours earlier. But mostly they talked on and on about their experiences to diplomats
and relatives on board the plane.
The former hostages and their
ambassadors ignored the plane's uncomfortable seats and its occasional bumps and dips as
they celebrated. Moarbes clutched a teddy bear given to her by her father as the two
talked animatedly for the entire one-hour flight.
The Abu Sayyaf, the smaller of
two Muslim rebel groups in the southern Philippines, says it is fighting for an
independent Islamic state. The government insists the organization is a group of bandits
practicing kidnapping and piracy.
The rebels have been holding
the hostages for months in a jungle on Jolo, 580 miles south of Manila. Before the
kidnapping they were estimated to number about 500 in the province but have grown to 5,000
as many recruits have been attracted by the large ransom payments, a military official
said.
Still in captivity are one
French, one German, two Finns and one South African kidnapped from the Malaysian resort,
two French journalists, and the 12 Filipino evangelists.
For years, Libya has helped
mediate between Muslim guerrillas and the Philippine government and helped build schools
and mosques in the impoverished south.
But Libya also has been accused
of training rebels from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, another separatist group
fighting for an Islamic state in the southern Philippines.
In Tripoli, the government said
it would have no comment until all the hostages were freed, but people in the streets were
delighted at their country's role.
``The release is something
wonderful and a victory for Libya and the hostages, especially because one of them is of
Arab origin,'' said 43-year-old taxi driver Khalifa el-Radhi. ``We welcome these Libyan
efforts that support human rights.''
South African President Thabo
Mbeki welcomed word of the hostages' freedom, as did French President Jacques Chirac and
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
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