June 2, 2000, Reuters Wire, 7:10 ET, Update 2-New hut drives Philippine hostages to despair,

June 2, 2000, Reuters Wire, 7:10 ET, Update 2-New hut drives Philippine hostages to despair,

JOLO, Philippines, June 2 (Reuters) - Some of the 21 mostly foreign hostages being held by Moslem separatists in the Philippines wept and spoke of suicide on Friday as builders put up a new hut in a sign their

ordeal will drag on for some time.

Finnish hostage Risto Mirco Vahanen, accusing the government of playing games, warned the hostages might not be able to hold on for much longer after 41 days in captivity.

"We want to get out as soon as possible and I hope the means is not through suicide or harming oneself," he told Filipino journalists allowed into the jungle camp on remote Jolo island, 960 km (600 miles) south of

the capital, Manila.

"This is a severe warning to the government. Mentally, we are getting weak. We continuously talk to each other to calm each other down."

A team of 10 carpenters, mostly members of the Abu Sayyaf fundamentalists holding the hostages, built a large hut on Friday to give them better protection and more comfort.

Philippine government negotiators do not expect to resume formal talks with the rebels until next week and have warned that the Abu Sayyaf normally holds people for up to six months.

MALARIA AND MARIAH CAREY

Provincial governor Abdusakur Tan, a member of Manila's negotiating team, told Reuters from Jolo the talks could not resume until a minor technical issue was resolved with the rebels.

In a statement in Manila, chief government negotiator Robert Aventajado said the guerrilla leaders would not resume talks until the government stopped all foreign fishermen and large fishing boats entering waters

around Jolo and nearby islands.

Tan said the guerrillas, the smaller of two groups fighting for an Islamic state in this mainly Catholic nation, had still made no ransom demand.

But another source close to the negotiations said a guerrilla emissary had demanded 40 million pesos (US$952,380) for the release of ailing German hostage Renate Wallert.

He said officials were checking if all of the divided Abu Sayyaf leadership backed this decision and if the same condition would be put on the release of all the hostages.

As the hut was built, doctors checked the conditions of the captives and brought in medicine, anti-malarials, food and a recording radio-cassette player with blank tapes and music including non-stop disco hits and Mariah Carey.

"So they are building a hut now, huh," asked Lebanese hostage Marie Moarbes. "People think we're stupid because we're in a jungle -- we still have brains: this means we will have to stay here for weeks.

"The outside world is like another life. It's not real anymore. It's completely surreal. We are coping with all the insect bites and everything, but this is crazy. It's like being in a movie, it's a nightmare."

ESTRADA APPEALS FOR PEACE

The hostages -- nine Malaysians, three Germans, two French nationals, two South Africans, two Finns, two Filipinos and a Lebanese -- were snatched from a Malaysian resort on April 23.

The hostage crisis and a surge of Islamic militancy on the main southern island of Mindanao, where government forces are battling the biggest rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), have posed the biggest security challenge to President Joseph Estrada in his two years in office.

On Friday, Estrada urged the MILF to seize the government's offer of autonomy to end the fighting in the southern region of Mindanao, warning the insurgency was not just crippling Mindanao's development, but the

entire country's.

"The truth is these rebels have no reason to fight the government because the root cause of their insurgency, the poverty in Mindanao, is the over-riding concern of this administration," Estrada told DZRH radio.

"Peace is crucial, because my government aims to hasten Mindanao's development by transforming it into the country's food basket. Our people are getting impatient. They want results and they want them fast."

On Thursday, government negotiators said the MILF had warmed to an offer of autonomy made during peace talks this week. --Reuters