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May 24, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Governor opens talks with kidnappers,

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May 24, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Governor opens talks with kidnappers

PATIKUL, Sulu--Gov. Abdusakur Tan yesterday met with two leaders of the Abu Sayyaf, and expressed optimism for the release of 19 foreigners and two Filipinos seized by the extremists a month ago. ''This (hostage crisis) will not drag on much longer,'' Tan said after meeting with Ghalib Andang, also known as ''Commander Robot,'' and Mudji Susukan at the town hall of Patikul in Barangay Tagibi. 

The Associated Press quoted Tan as saying that he and the two leaders had agreed that talks could begin as early as today, that the Abu Sayyaf accepted the government's negotiating team, and that the release of ailing German hostage Renate Wallert topped the agenda. 

Andang arrived with Susukan in a white government ambulance. The one-hour, closed-door meeting marked the first time the leaders of the extremist group left their jungle camp to meet with a government negotiator. 

Chief negotiator Robert Aventajado, an adviser of President Estrada, returned to Manila from the island of Jolo late Monday after Abu Sayyaf leaders reportedly left him sitting in the jungle for more than four hours. ''It was a very good meeting,'' Tan said, a pistol at his waist. His bodyguards carried assault rifles. 

''We agreed to talk, to begin negotiations. We have bright chances,'' Tan said. Andang was positive as well. ''We are in search of peace here,'' he said, clutching an AK-47. Asked if the Abu Sayyaf would free the hostages, Susukan said: ''Yes, we will release them.'' Asked when, he replied: ''I don't know.'' 

The Abu Sayyaf's demands are still being discussed by its leaders, Andang and Tan said. Early yesterday morning, Tan said communication lines with the Abu Sayyaf were ''still open.'' He said it was not true that the extremists had ''snubbed'' Aventajado. He said what happened was that only three of the five Abu Sayyaf leaders were available for the Monday meeting, and Aventajado had wanted to meet with all five. In Manila, Aventajado said he was prepared to go to the Abu Sayyaf hideout alone--without security, if necessary--to negotiate for the hostages' release. 

''I think the reason for the non-appearance of all five of the leaders of the hostage-taking group was more the security arrangement that was prepared for my safety,'' he said at a press conference at around 5 p.m. yesterday. ''I guess I have to be a little bit bolder. Perhaps I should really go in alone, and that's what I intend to do next time,'' he said. Asked how long he was prepared to stay in the Abu Sayyaf hideout to negotiate, he said: ''As long as it takes.'' 

3-jeep convoy

Robot and Susukan were accompanied by about 100 followers, many of them young men carrying assault rifles and with their faces covered in black ski masks, AP reported. The party arrived in a convoy of three jeeps. ''Peace be with you,'' Andang said in Tausug as he waved to reporters before going into the meeting. 

The rendezvous area was secured by scores of policemen but the military stayed away, in keeping with a previous arrangement with the Abu Sayyaf. After the meeting, Tan and Andang shook hands. Then the extremists pulled away, pumping their fists in the air and shouting, ''Allahu Akbar''(Arabic for''God is great''). Tan said the Abu Sayyaf leaders had given him written demands, which he refused to divulge to reporters. 

''We will have to wait for Secretary Aventajado,'' he said. So far, all the formal demands of the Abu Sayyaf had been political--a complicating factor because the government has repeatedly ruled out their No. 1 goal of an independent Islamic state. 

The band is holding three Germans, two French, two Finns, two South Africans, a Lebanese, nine Malaysians and two Filipinos kidnapped from the Malaysian resort island of Sipadan on April 23. 

Concern

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad yesterday expressed concern for the hostages but said his government would not act unilaterally. ''Mainly we are concerned about those people because they are hostages taken from Malaysian territory, and they also include Malaysians. We have a right to be concerned,'' Mahathir said at a press conference. 

''Whatever we do, we do with the consent of the country involved. We are not doing things unilaterally but we have to be concerned about the fate of these people who were taken from Malaysian territory,'' he said. A meeting last week between Malaysia's ambassador to Manila and Abu Sayyaf leaders sparked a diplomatic furor. 

Philippine officials initially accused Malaysia of interfering in the negotiations, but later said the envoy's meeting was to prepare for a visit to the hostages by the Malaysian Red Crescent. In Manila, Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon Jr. said the Philippines could not afford to get into a diplomatic row with Malaysia at the moment because it needed that country's help to end the hostage crisis. 

Lawmakers and immigration officials had urged Siazon to protest Malaysia's alleged maltreatment of some 1,800 undocumented Filipinos it deported from Sabah in the wake of the hostage taking. But Siazon said yesterday that tangling with Malaysia may not only endanger the estimated 500,000 Filipino illegals in Sabah but also seriously hamper Philippine efforts to negotiate for the release of the hostages. 

''You have to remember that Malaysia is part of the problem and part of the solution,'' he said, referring to another demand made by the Abu Sayyaf that a commission be formed to look into the alleged maltreatment of Filipino Muslims in Sabah. He said the Philippines needed to coordinate with Malaysia on how to respond to this demand. Aventajado also said the government was open to this demand. Reports from Noralyn Mustafa, PDI Mindanao Bureau; Donna S. Cueto and Dona Pazzibugan in Manila; and Inquirer wires 

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