A Libyan envoy has arrived in the south Philippines to begin negotiations for the release of 21 mainly foreign hostages held by Muslim rebels on Jolo island.
The intervention of Mr Rajab Azzarouq, who in the past has helped arrange the freedom of hostages in the Philippines, overshadowed the arrival in Manila of the EU's foreign policy representative, Mr Javier Solana.
The former NATO secretary-general acknowledged that he had no role to play in securing the safety of the hostages, who include nine Malaysians, three Germans, two French, two South Africans, two Finns, two Filipinos and one Lebanese.
"I am not a negotiator and did not come here to negotiate, and therefore I came here to talk to the government to tell them that we are pleased how they are handling the situation," he said after meeting President Joseph Estrada in Manila.
Mr Solana brought thermal blankets and medicines for the hostages which Mr Estrada promised to send to them, but in the confused situation on the island there was little guarantee they would be delivered.
The Abu Sayyaf rebels yesterday moved the hostages around to confuse government forces and complicate efforts to secure their freedom, according to officials on Jolo. But they said hopes were high that a German woman, Ms Renate Wallert, who has high blood pressure, could soon be freed.
The government has a jet aircraft on standby to rush her to hospital if she is released today. The rebels have also been asked to release urgently Mr Stephane Loisy, a French man believed to have a urinary tract infection.
Mr Nur Misuari, a former rebel leader chosen by the government as chief negotiator, said 12 hostages were moved late on Monday a few kilometres from the thickly-forested area on Jolo where they have been kept since their abduction from a Malaysian diving resort on April 23rd. The Jolo police chief, Mr Candido Casimoro, said later the rebels had regrouped the hostages.
The area has been cordoned off by hundreds of troops and militia loyal to Mr Misuari. The appearance on the scene of the Libyan diplomat is the best hope that the rebels can be persuaded to give up the hostages, although the situation is still very confused, with conflicting accounts of who is in charge of the Abu Sayyaf group and of their demands.
Mr Azzarouq, the first on a list of approved intermediaries submitted by the rebels, helped negotiate the release of an Italian priest, two Spanish nuns and an American Bible translator when he was ambassador to the Philippines from 1990 to 1999.
He was a member of an Islamic panel that helped conclude a peace pact in 1996 that ended a 24-year Muslim separatist war in the southern Philippines. Two militant Muslim groups did not accept the deal, and Abu Sayyaf is the most mercenary and extreme in the methods it uses in fighting on for an Islamic state.
"The priority for us is the sick lady, the German woman," Mr Azzarouq said. "We have sent communication to the group [rebels] and we will know it [an answer] tomorrow morning. We are hoping, we are positive that we will have something good for everyone, some positive results."
In a letter to family members obtained by a local cameraman who visited the hostages on Saturday, the two South African hostages said they were under strain and hoping their government was pushing for their release. "We are still OK, not eating healthy and under a lot of emotional stress, but we are praying (and preaching sometimes)," Carel and Monique Strydom wrote.
They added with a touch of humour that they would love a fastfood burger. Lucrecia Dablo and Abe Roland Ulla from the Philippines wrote to President Estrada: "Please help get us out of here ALIVE and not DEAD."
Philippine soldiers killed eight communist guerrillas in a gun battle south of Manila yesterday, police said. The New People's Army, which has been fighting for a Marxist state for three decades, is one of three rebel groups fighting the central government.