Talks start for release of four hostages

Sulu Governor Yusup Jikiri has started negotiations with the mother of suspected kidnapper, Moin Sahiron, for the safe release of four of the eight remaining hostages who were kidnapped in Jolo, southern Philippines, last Tuesday.

Moin Sahiron is the nephew of Abu Sayyaf leader, Radullan Sahiron, a one-armed bandit who operates in Jolo.

"We will succeed in our mission which began late on Friday," Jikiri said. "We are also talking with other relatives of the kidnappers. We have identified all of them.

"Apart from other local government officials, the leaders of the (non-Catholic) Jehovah's Witness are also helping out," added Jikiri. He did not give details.

He expressed confidence that the military will hold its fire until after the five-day deadline it has given before making an assault on the suspected lair of the kidnappers.

The kidnappers beheaded two of the Christian preachers on Wednesday and released two others on the day of the abduction in Patikul last Tuesday.

The Christian preachers who are still with their captors are Nory Mantulo, Cleofe Mantolo, Flora Mantulo and Emely Mantic.

Armed forces chief of staff, General Roy Cimatu, noted: "We will give negotiations a chance," but added" "The military is there and we can go in any time."

He was in Basilan, north of Sulu, where the hostage-takers are hiding their victims.

"The negotiations for the civilians is different from our military operations," explained local military commander, Brig. Gen. Romeo Tolentino.

General Cimatu gave a series of pep talks to 40 members of the light reaction company (LRC) who boarded the C-130 plane for Jolo island. This is in preparation for the military assault against the kidnappers in Jolo.

"I'm very confident you will accomplish the job at the earliest possible time. Not only the armed forces but the whole nation will be depending on you," Gen. Cimatu told the soldiers.

The team is battle-tested.

"It was engaged in 50 clashes with the Abu Sayyaf on Basilan Island in the past. Only two of them were wounded," boasted Gen. Cimatu.

The elite LRC is equipped with assault rifles, a grenade launcher, M24 sniper rifles and night vision equipment.

The LRC was trained by the U.S. army and was used by the military in its offensive on Basilan island that left dozens of guerrillas killed and captured last year.

The 40 LRC members will soon join a battalion of Marines who were sent to Jolo by ship in preparation for an assault operation on Wednesday.

The helicopters that will bring them to Jolo's combat zone are on a standby mission. Six military battalions with 6,000 men are already posted in Jolo.

Brig. Gen. Tolentino, the local army commander, said his men have been shelling suspected Abu Sayyaf lairs in Patikul.

He added that this would pressure the kidnappers to negotiate and safely release the four women hostages.

Two MG-520 attack helicopters with machine-guns have been sending rockets on suspected Abu Sayyaf lairs in Patikul in support of the ground troops.

The military has identified Sahiron's lair in the jungles of Patikul, noting that it is between an Abu Sayyaf camp and the camp of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) which has remained loyal to jailed Muslim leader, Nur Misuari.

Military strategists called for a new approach in a projected military attack, saying that the military will prevent the Abu Sayyaf group and the pro-Misuari MNLF men from joining the kidnappers.

"If they do that, the army will be faced with a three armed groups," said a source. "This is the reason why we are building up forces in Basilan and in Jolo for a major clash."

However, two militant groups criticised Defence Secretary Angelo Reyes for belittling the kidnappers as a drug-crazed group.

"Why send 6,000 troops just to chase a band of addicts? Perhaps Secretary Reyes and his group of puppets... are sick and tired of using the Abu Sayyaf issue as an excuse to justify the state's stupid war," said Gerry Albert Corpuz, information officer of the National Strong Movement in the Philippines.

Reyes has been inventing new kinds of bandits "to cover-up for the failure of the Republic of the Philippines-U.S. wargames in crushing the Abu Sayyaf group," alleged Carl Anthony Ala from the same group.

"The problem is nobody seems to buy such recycled stories anymore. Now it can be told that the U.S. government and President Gloria Arroyo only used the exploits of the Abu Sayyaf to justify the entry of American troops into the country," Ala said.

United States special forces advisers recently ended a six-month-long joint operation in Mindanao where they helped Filipino soldiers hunt down the Abu Sayyaf group in Basilan.

U.S. military engineers also upgraded the air strip in the area. Jolo is expected to be the scene of the second U.S.-Philippine wargames in October.