Talks to Free Hostages Begin in Philippines
Government negotiators and Muslim rebel leaders held their first talks Saturday concerning the freedom of 21 hostages who have been held in the jungle for more than a month.
They did not discuss the immediate release of any of the hostages, said the government’s chief negotiator, Robert Aventajado.
Aventajado rejected two of the Abu Sayyaf rebels’ main demands: an independent Islamic state and an investigation of the treatment of Filipinos in Malaysia. Nevertheless, the rebels were “very reasonable, and I am optimistic,” he said.
The 21 were seized April 23 on Sipadan Island in Malaysia and taken to the Philippine island of Jolo.
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