DATE=8/31/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=SAF / HOSTAGES (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-266028
BYLINE=CHALLISS MCDONOUGH
DATELINE=JOHANNESBURG
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The two South Africans among the hostages
released in the Philippines have returned home. South
African Callie Strydom kissed the ground when he and
his wife, Monique, stepped off the plane in Pretoria
late Wednesday. V-O-A Johannesburg Correspondent
Challiss McDonough reports the two former hostages
described their ordeal at a news conference Thursday.
TEXT: After four months in captivity, Callie and
Monique Strydom are home at last. Scores of well-
wishers greeted them at the airport, and news of their
arrival dominated the front pages of many South
African newspapers.
Muslim rebels abducted the Strydoms and 19 others in
April from the Malaysian diving resort of Sipadan.
Officially welcoming them home, President Thabo Mbeki
joked that they should cut up their diving suits and
never go diving again.
Callie Strydom told reporters that at times, they did
not feel they would make it back to South Africa
alive.
/// CALLIE STRYDOM ACT ONE ///
It's (an) unbelievable moment for us to sit here
with you, coming back after 129 days through a
very difficult and very trying situation. I
think we can't really express in words what
we've gone through. The emotional ups and downs
and the fight that we had within ourselves to
carry on.
/// END ACT ///
The Strydoms praised the South African government for
its efforts to secure their release. But Mr. Strydom
says the ordeal is not over for them yet because the
Abu Sayyaf rebels who kidnapped them are still holding
more hostages on the Philippine island of Jolo.
/// CALLIE STRYDOM ACT TWO ///
Unfortunately, the whole hostage crisis for us
is not totally over. Our happiness is not
totally finished. The fact that we have got
people from the original 21 taken from Sipadan
makes it so much more difficult. We can't
really say everything because we don't want to
jeopardize the people inside. At the same time,
we know that everything will be done, as was
done in our case, to get them out.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Strydom says their fellow captives have become a
part of them, after spending so much time facing
hardship together. He says their ordeal will not
really be over until everyone is free.
The Strydoms say support from their home country
helped them survive the long months of confinement.
Monique Strydom says they received scores of letters
from other South Africans while they were in
captivity.
/// MONIQUE STRYDOM ACT ///
It's truly amazing. Some days we would sit
there and we were ready just to give up, and we
would get letters from people we had never heard
of. And we felt the power of prayer, the power
of love come through to the island of Jolo.
/// END ACT ///
The Strydoms have become national heroes in South
Africa. The nation almost obsessively followed
developments in the Philippine hostage crisis ever
since the two were abducted in April. People often
refer to them simply by their first names -- when you
say Monique or Callie, everyone knows exactly who you
mean.
Support for the Strydoms crosses racial lines --
something that happens all too rarely in this country
still divided after decades of racist apartheid rule.
Some here say it is ironic that they returned home the
same day the Human Rights Commission opened a national
conference on racism in the new South Africa. Their
arrival pushed news of the conference off the front
pages of many newspapers, which chose instead to run
photos of a jubilant Callie and Monique as they
stepped off the airplane in Pretoria.
After the Strydoms landed at the airport, Callie
Strydom told reporters about a New Year's wish he
remembered making, months before he and his wife were
taken hostage. He says he wished for a united South
Africa. Many here say support for the Strydoms
themselves has managed to unite the country. (Signed)
NEB/CEM/JWH/ENE/JP
31-Aug-2000 13:27 PM LOC (31-Aug-2000 1727 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
