June 8, 2001, AFP, US diplomat warns Abu vs harming American captives,

June 8, 2001, AFP, US diplomat warns Abu vs harming American captives,
Posted: 11:33 AM (Manila Time)

A UNITED States diplomat said Friday that any harm inflicted by the Abu Sayyaf on three American hostages they are holding in Basilan would be viewed as a cowardly act. 

The Abu Sayyaf rebels had threatened Thursday to behead the Americans, among them a Christian missionary couple, if their demand for a Malaysian to mediate in the Philippine hostage crisis was not met. 

"We continue to call for the safe release of the hostages," Judith Cefkin, counselor for political affairs at the US embassy, told Agence France-Presse. 

She said Washington "would view any harm to the hostages as a cowardly act and our position remains that we do not pay ransom." 

Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Sabaya in a telephone call to a radio station in the southern Philippines demanded for ex-Malaysian senator Sairin Karno to mediate in the crisis, claiming that talks with government negotiator William Castillo are "going nowhere." 

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has rejected the demand. Her spokesman said Castillo "has the full authority of the military, the Philippine National Police and this government." 

Abu Sabaya gave the government 72 hours from Thursday afternoon and warned that the Abu Sayyaf would execute the Americans -- husband-wife Christian missionaries Martin Burnham, 41, and Gracia Burnham, 42, both originally from Kansas, and Californian Guillermo Sobrero. 

Martin Burnham was wounded in the back during fierce fighting between government troops and the rebels last weekend, the Abu Sayyaf said. 

The Americans, who were abducted from a tourist resort off the western island of Palawan on May 27, and 10 Filipinos are being held hostage by the guerillas in the southern island of Basilan. 

Cefkin said the "channels of communication" between the rebels and the Philippine government should remain open. 

The US Federal Bureau of Investigations has sent officials to advice Philippines officials in trying to resolve the hostage crisis. 

In April, the Philippine military rescued a US hostage held captive for seven months by the Abu Sayyaf in the southern island of Jolo. 

Schilling, 25, was the last remaining foreign hostage held by the rebels in a kidnapping spree that embarrassed Manila last year. The rebels still hold a Filipino hostage, Roland Ullah. 

Schilling was abducted in August when he voluntarily walked into rebel camp.