French hostages 'free this week'

2000-09-11 11:48

Ras-al-Khaimah - Two French television journalists still held by Muslim rebels in the Philippines will be released in two or three days, a Libyan mediator told AFP on Monday.

"There is an agreement in place already," said mediator Rajab Azzarouq, Tripoli's point man in negotiations with the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas.

"It's only a matter of two to three days before the release," he said after flying into the Gulf from the Philippines with four European hostages who were released on Saturday.

"Because the security situation is not so okay for the safe release, we need things to calm down, down there," Azzarouq added.

He said he would fly straight back to the Philippines to pursue his efforts after the hostages reach Tripoli later on Monday.

French cameraman Jean-Jacques Le Garrec (46), and soundman Roland Madura (49), of the state-run France 2 channel were abducted in Jolo in July while covering the hostage crisis.

They had been expected to be set free along with the four Europeans seized in April.

But chief Philippines government negotiator Roberto Aventajado said an Abu Sayyaf leader warned him that both sides should allow the situation in Jolo to stabilise following bloody infighting.

The chartered Libyan Ilyushin plane landed in Ras Al-Khaimah desert airport on a refuelling stopover en route to Tripoli where the four were to thank the Gaddafi Charitable Foundation, headed by Gaddafi's son Seif al-Islam, for facilitating their release and then fly home.

The organisation has offered up to $10 million in development aid to poor Muslim areas in the southern Philippines. Sources in the Philippines have said millions of dollars in ransom were also paid to the guerrillas, but the charity has denied this.

"Those figures are mere speculation," Azzarouq told AFP. "There is no such figure. The media are still trying to manipulate the ordeal and may jeopardise the safety and welfare of the hostages."

Finns Risto Vahanen, Seppo Fraenti, Frenchman Stephane Loisy and German Marc Wallert had boarded the aircraft at dawn for a 16-hour flight from the Philippines after four and a half months in captivity.

They were accompanied by medical personnel and diplomats from their countries as well as Libyan officials.

"We are very happy to be here," Wallert told AFP. "Our plans are to proceed to Tripoli to say thank you to the Gaddafi organisation and then proceed on to our countries."

All the group disembarked at the airport and were given flowers before joyfully posing for and taking photographs of themselves with the bearded Libyan mediator.

Sandwiches, cakes and juice were served in the terminal.

The flight on to Tripoli was expected to take five and a half hours.

The airport at Ras Al-Khaimah, the northernmost emirate in the UAE federation, was also used as a stopover en route to Tripoli on 29 August when Libya negotiated the release of six hostages from the rebels.

The international airport is 22 kilometres inland from the city of Ras Al-Khaimah on the Gulf coast. - Sapa-AFP

- SAPA