Brave mother of Philippine hostage awaits
daughter's freedom
TRIPOLI, Aug 29 (AFP) -
Lebanese Sarwat Moarbes sighs heavily as she looks out pensively through the window of the
plane diving through the clouds into the Libyan capital where her daughter was due to
arrive after four months of captivity with Muslim extremists in the Philippines.
She is not talkative and there
are signs of anxiety in her eyes and in the nervous way she fidgets.
"Marie has always told me
to be strong, not to cry, so I will not cry when I will see her tomorrow," said the
elegantly-dressed woman with a brave face.
Sarwat's Franco-Lebanese
daughter and only child Marie was being whisked on an intercontinental flight from the
Philippines with French journalist Maryse Burgot, Frenchwoman Sonia Wendling, South
African Monique Strydom, her husband Callie and German Werner Wallert.
The six were due to arrive
either overnight or Tuesday morning in Tripoli where Libyan leader Moamar Qadhafi has
plans for a grand reception.
Sarwat's ordeal started on
April 23 when Marie was kidnapped while on a scuba diving trip in a Malaysian island and
held by Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf in the southern Philippines.
Since then, Sarwat's emotional
state has followed the ups and downs of the difficult negotiations which only started to
become fruitful with the involvment of Libya, which maintains close ties with Muslims in
the southern Philippines.
"We are very thankful to
the Libyans. I thought I would never see her again and they gave me back my
daughter," she said at the airport.
Sarwat came from Beirut with
her brother Samir Baz, her sister Hikmat and her niece Danielle Moarbes on a chartered
flight along with Lebanese Minister of Water and Electricity Suleiman Traboulsi.
"When I was told about her
release, I could not believe it fully, especially after last week's failed attempt to
release the hostages," said Sarwat.
"I waited in front of the
television until I finally saw her hugging her father Michel," she said.
Michel's ordeal has been even
more difficult since he has been in the Philippines for over four months.
"It was very difficult for
him because everyday, he would be told that Marie would be soon released and then, for
some reason his hopes would be dashed with bad news," said Joseph Beshara a Lebanese
businessman who works in Manila.
Beshara, who came with the
family from Beirut, seemed to be the Moarbes family's new-found best friend since he
benevolently stayed with the captive's father for months and helped in the mediation
process.
"At one point, Michel
wanted to commit suicide by jumping from the upper floors of his hotel because he could
not stand the idea of seeing his only child suffer and with little hope of seeing her
freedom," he said.
Marie's aunt Hikmat recalls the
difficult moments of the family's ordeal, but proudly recalls tales of her niece's
courage.
"She has always been
strong, even as a child. Throughout her captivity, she helped the other hostages and she
gained the respect of her abductors," she said.
"She even removed a bullet
from the leg of one of her abductors. One of the other hostages accused her of being a
collaborator, but she said it was only human to treat a human being," said Hikmat.
After a childhood in Beirut in
the difficult days of the 1975-1990 civil war, Marie, who turns 33 in December, went to
pursue studies in France where she became a graphic designer.
"She has always been brave
in the war. She loved adventures and all kinds of sports including scuba diving which took
her on the trip to Malaysia," said her uncle.
Samir Baz pledged to make wax
effigies of Marie, Qadhafi and his son Seif al-Islam - whose charitable foundation
conducted the negotiations to release her - at the museum he established in his 17th
century family home in the picturesque Shouf mountains of Lebanon.
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