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PAS : KE ARAH PEMERINTAHAN ISLAM YANG ADIL
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Subject:
[beritamalaysia] Rebels break camp, talks put off; Negotiator
to push for
early release
Date:
Sat, 27 May 2000 01:34:11 +0800
From:
"Y.W.Loke" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To:
"Berita Malaysia" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
CC:
"BMalaysia" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
http://www.lycos-asia.com/my/asia/philippines/000526120832.99wetsz3.html
Filipino Muslim rebels break camp, hostage freedom talks put off
JOLO, Philippines, May 26 (AFP) - 20:08 - Filipino Muslim extremist
guerrillas broke camp Friday and fled with their 21 mostly foreign
captives, forcing government negotiators to cancel the start of formal
talks for the hostages' freedom.
"We will have to do it another day, we will have to reschedule it,"
chief
government negotiator Roberto Aventajado told reporters. "We will try
again
tomorrow."
Another official said the meeting with five leaders of the Abu Sayyaf
group
was cancelled because the rebels were unnerved by an excessive military
presence around the venue of the talks in Bandang village.
It is the second time the government has been left in limbo by the Abu
Sayyaf rebel leaders, who early this week cancelled a rendezvous with
Aventajado to prepare for formal talks.
Aventajado said Abu Sayyaf leaders had relocated their camp from Patikul
to
Talipao to safeguard their own security.
"We welcome it as the talks would be more secure in their new place. So
hopefully tomorrow this thing will start," he said.
Talipao and Patikul, towns which are six miles (10 kilometres) apart are
coastal towns on Jolo island, where the hostages have been held since
they
were abducted in the Malaysian resort of Sipadan on April 23.
Aventajado, a special envoy of President Joseph Estrada, said the Abu
Sayyaf rebels had broken up into several groups during the shift but
"the
hostages travelled in one group and they are intact as a group."
Around 200 rebels are believed to be holding the hostages.
Asked whether the cancellation of the talks was a setback to freeing the
hostages, Aventajado said: "We needed to give them time to organise
because
they transferred from their original position from Patikul to Talipao.
"They needed some time to settle down. It was part of their security
arrangement and we have to respect that," he said.
Journalists had been waiting for nine hours from 7 a.m. FridayThursday)
at
the residence of the governor of Sulu from where the government convoy
was
to have left for the rendezvous.
A local official in Talipao told AFP the talks were cancelled due to
rebel
concerns over excessive military presence around the venue.
"The troops went there ahead of the negotiators and the police and the
deployment scared the Abu Sayyaf," he said.
But Aventajado rejected the official's suggestion, saying "the soldiers
were instructed to go to a particular place and that's where they went.
"They followed instructions," he said.
Aventajado said emissaries had been going back and forth from the Abu
Sayyaf hideout "so that we will start (the talks) early tomorrow."
He told reporters earlier that President Estrada had instructed him "to
resolve as quickly as possible the crisis."
But he warned that any monetary demands by the Abu Sayyaf leaders could
scupper the long-awaited talks.
"They know the policy of the government. We don't pay ransom. If they
ask
for a ransom that will be a deal-breaker," said Aventajado, who was
scheduled to lead a four-member government panel of negotiators
accompanied
by independent mediator former Libyan envoy Abdul Rahab Azzarouq to the
meeting.
Although the kidnappers have not yet made any monetary demands,
officials
have said they expect the negotiations will eventually boil down to the
payment of a ransom.
The Abu Sayyaf rebels, who are fighting for an independent state in the
southern Philippines, are holding nine Malaysians, a German family of
three, a French couple, two Finns, a South African couple, two Filipinos
and a Lebanese.
________
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/general/ge2605_21.htm
May 26 , 2000 23:19PM
TALKS POSTPONED AGAIN, ABDUCTORS RELOCATE HOSTAGES
>From Jackson Sawatan
JOLO, May 26 (Bernama) -- Formal negotiations to secure the release of
21
hostages abducted from Sipadan Island by an armed group more than a
month
ago has failed to start yet again.
This time it was due to difficulties in contacting all the five leaders
of
armed group.
Philippine government chief negotiator Robert Aventajado said the armed
group has apparently moved their hideout to Talipao, about 20km from
Patikul where the hostages had been held up to yesterday afternoon.
"The armed group were split up into several groups and they moved to
another place. So it took us quite a while to get hold of all of them,"
he
told reporters at the residence of Sulu governor Abdusakur Tan here
Friday.
Anticipating the start of negotiations today, more than 40 local and
foreign journalists had waited at Abdusakur's residence as early as 7am.
The team of five government negotiators were supposed to have left the
governor's house this morning to meet with the armed group.
At 11.30am, there was talk that the negotiation team will leave after
Friday prayers but until 4pm, the team was still at Abdusakur's house.
During that time, several emissaries were sent out to get in touch with
the
leaders of the armed group and at 4.20pm, Eventajado emerged to tell
reporters that the talks had to be postponed.
Asked if the hostages were still separated, he said: "I think the
hostages
grouping is still intact but the armed group leaders have gone to
different
places and they then re-grouped. So, it took a while to get intouch".
He said the team of negotiators had no choice but to postpone the talks
until tomorrow.
The formal talks had failed to begin several times before.
-- BERNAMA
_________
http://www.lycos-asia.com/my/asia/philippines/000526115314.crnamuy6.html
Philippine Muslim rebels threaten to snub peace talks due to clashes
COTABATO, Philippines, May 26 (AFP) - 19:53 - Muslim separatist
guerrillas
Friday threatened to boycott government peace talks scheduled for next
week
amid fresh clashes with the military in the southern Philippines.
Eid Cabalu, spokesman for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), said
an
attack on a guerrilla camp could force the MILF peace panel to defer
talks
scheduled to open on May 30 in this southern city.
"This is unfortunate. While everything appeared to be winding down, the
military launched air and ground attacks near Camp Bushra," Cabalu said,
referring to a key MILF outpost in nearby Lanao del Sur province.
Local military spokesman Major Johnny Macanas confirmed that helicopter
gunships and artillery were used to blast MILF positions near Camp
Bushra,
saying that fighting this week had claimed the lives of three soldiers
and
23 MILF guerrillas.
He said the military would continue their offensive until MILF forces
were
pushed out of three Lanao del Sur towns and back to Camp Bushra, but he
would not say whether they might attempt to overrun the camp.
Another soldier was also killed in a clash with the MILF in Sarmiento
town,
near Cotabato, Macanas said.
Clashes between the military and the 15,000-strong MILF increased from
late
April after troops set out to clear a highway near Cotabato of MILF
forces.
This prompted the rebels to pull out of peace talks.
However the attacks tapered off after the MILF withdrew from the
highway.
The rebels agreed to take up a government offer to reopen talks on May
30.
Local police on Friday defused a bomb planted on a major bridge near
Cotabato, saying the MILF were behind it.
Suspected MILF rebels also fired a rocket-propelled grenade at an oil
depot
belonging to Philippine refiner Petron Corp. in the southern fishing
port
of General Santos City, damaging a petroleum storage tank, police said.
The attack did not ignite the fuel and no one was injured in the
incident.
As the government came under criticism for its handling of the conflict,
President Joseph Estrada's cabinet defended Manila's strategy to contain
the Muslim rebellion.
Estrada's national security adviser, Alexander Aguirre, said contrary to
critics in Congress, "the Estrada administration has a clear-cut policy
direction on the conflict in Mindanao" and that it was being implemented
by
concerned cabinet officials and agencies.
More than a hundred soldiers have been killed and over 500 have been
wounded since January in clashes with the MILF and a smaller Muslim
insurgent group, the Abu Sayyaf which is holding two sets of hostages
just
off Mindanao.
________
http://www.lycos-asia.com/my/asia/philippines/000526053025.854n665v.html
Top government negotiator vows to push for early hostages' release
JOLO, Philippines, May 26 (AFP) - 13:30 - Top government negotiator
Roberto
Aventajado vowed to seek a quick end to a month-long hostage crisis
ahead
of the first round of formal talks Friday with Muslim rebels holding 21
mostly foreign captives.
President Joseph Estrada has instructed him "to resolve as quickly as
possible the crisis."
But Aventajado warned that any monetary demands by the leaders of the
Abu
Sayyaf group could scuttle the long-awaited talks, which are expected to
be
held at a village near the coastal town of Talipao on Jolo island.
"They know the policy of the government. We don't pay ransom. If they
ask
for a ransom that will be a deal breaker," said Aventajado, who will
lead a
four-member government panel of negotiators and independent mediator
former
Libyan envoy Abdul Rahab Azzarouq to the meeting.
Aventajado said he expected the five Abu Sayyaf leaders to "seriously
negotiate with us.
"I just hope they will be reasonable with their demands so that we
resolve
the hostage situation peacefully."
Although the kidnappers have not yet made any monetary demands,
officials
have said they expect the negotiations will eventually boil down to the
payment of a ransom.
The Abu Sayyaf rebels, who are fighting for an independent state in the
southern Philippines, abducted nine Malaysians, a German family of
three, a
French couple, two Finns, a South African couple, two Filipinos and a
Lebanese from a Malaysian resort on April 23 and took them by boat to
Jolo
island.
Abu Sayyaf leader Galib Andang, better known as Commander Robot, told
the
Bernama news agency from his jungle hideout on Thursday that the
captives
would be released if the talks were successful.
"It (the release of hostages) can even take only one hour. If the talks
are
not good, it can even take 10 days," said Andang.
The Abu Sayyaf has made two political demands in exchange for the
hostages.
Apart from seeking an independent Islamic state in the southern
Philippines, they want a commission created to probe allegations of
maltreatment of Filipino Muslim immigrants in Malaysia's Sabah.
The government has flatly rejected the demand for independence while
saying
it had to consult Malaysia on the proposed commission.
Aventajado said he has met with the Malaysian ambassador to discuss the
second demand.
"I have already some ideas as to how much support we can get from the
Malaysian government," he said.
Aventajado, a special envoy of Philippine President Joseph Estrada, said
"the hardest part" would be to convince the rebels that they would not
be
attacked as soon as they free the hostages.
He said the government would as far as possible seek the release of all
21
hostages rather than have them released in batches.
Asked whether he would face a difficult time convincing the rebels to
free
the hostages, Aventajado said: "I don't think so because otherwise they
wouldn't have agreed to talk to us anymore. They could have rejected me
outright."
Police have deployed about 200 armed personnel to cordon the venue of
the
negotiations from a 200-metre (220-yard) radius, said Candido Casimiro,
the
police chief of Sulu, which covers Jolo island.
________
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/primenews/pri6_0526.html
MAY 26, 2000
Please Release Me, they sing in unison
MANILA -- To mark their first month in captivity, the 21 hostages of the
Abu Sayyaf rebels held a singalong session. Their most touching number:
Please Release Me -- the song made famous by singer Engelbert
Humperdinck.
According to a report in the Manila Standard yesterday, the hostages
also
recorded on tape other songs such as Don't Cry for Me, Argentina. The
songs
were played to visiting journalists on Tuesday.
The paper said the hostages renewed their appeal to their governments to
speed up their release, saying their long captivity was driving some to
thinking of suicide.
"We are being used as pawns between the political side and this group,"
South African hostage Callie Strydom told television journalists who
visited the rebels' hide-out yesterday. The hostages could have a long
wait
ahead of them, though their speedy release is the goal, Foreign
Secretary
Domingo Siazon told envoys from some of their governments yesterday.
Previous kidnappings by the rebel group have lasted three to six months,
he
said. -- AP
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