Talks to Free Hostages Begin in Philippines
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TALIPAO, 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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