DATE=5/17/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=PHILIPPINES HOSTAGES (L-O)
NUMBER=2-262464
BYLINE=KONRAD MULLER
DATELINE=MANILA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: As the hostage crisis on the southern
Philippine island of Jolo drags through a fourth-week,
Philippine authorities are hopeful talks with Islamic
rebels can begin Thursday. But as Konrad Muller
reports from Manila, the Abu Sayyaf rebel group has
yet to present a written list of demands.
TEXT: Senior officials in Manila make it plain that
unless, and until, Abu Sayyaf leaders provide a clear
list of written demands, there is no proper basis for
negotiations on freeing the 21-mainly foreign
hostages. They were abducted from a Malaysian diving
resort on April 23rd.
A formal list is yet to surface. Nevertheless,
Philippine chief government negotiator Roberto
Aventajado says formal talks could begin Thursday. He
says the priority remains the release of the 57-year
old German hostage, Renate Wallert, who is in very
poor health.
/// OPT /// Throughout the protracted hostage drama,
Manila has consistently ruled out paying ransom,
saying it would pose a dangerous precedent in parts of
the southern Philippines, like Jolo Island, where
kidnapping is widespread. /// END OPT ///
With no immediate end to their nightmare in sight, the
hostages did, however, receive some relief Tuesday.
They were allowed to call loved ones, using the
satellite phone of a foreign journalist. They also
received medicine and personal letters.
Jolo Island - about one-thousand kilometers south of
Manila - is a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf, one of two
groups fighting to establish a separate Islamic state.
(SIGNED)
NEB/HK/KM/JO/RAE
17-May-2000 08:22 AM EDT (17-May-2000 1222 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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