ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Apr. 02, 2009) – Three Red Cross workers kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf terrorists are all alive, according to the Italian Foreign Ministry on Thursday.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said they were able to talk to Italian Eugenio Vagni, one of the hostages. “They are alive according to information in our possession,” he said.
Vagni and Swiss national Andreas Notter and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba, who work for the International Committee of the Red Cross, were kidnapped January 15 after inspecting a humanitarian project at a prison in Patikul town.
Unconfirmed reports in Sulu on Wednesday said the Abu Sayyaf shot Notter in the head and killed or probably injured after he tried to escape from his captors. Journalists covering the hostage crisis in Sulu also received the same reports from this cell phone number +639277083148.
Marine Lt. Gen. Nelson Allaga, commander of military forces in-charge of rescuing the hostages, said the reports of Notter’s death could be part of the strategy of the Abu Sayyaf to divert the attention of the authorities.
Allaga said all the hostages are probably alive. “It’s difficult to believe every single report in Sulu at this time, but there are indications all the hostages are still alive,” he told the Mindanao Examiner. (Mindanao Examiner)
1 comment:
How on earth did Italy make contact with the Italian hostage?
Don't tell me, I have a suspicion, somebody or some people are richer today by a few hundrd thousand pesos if not a couple of millions!
Seriously, I can only offer this explanation: the Italians sent a sattelite phone to the Abu Sayyaff through an emissary who got paid a lot of money (subjective to you and me but objective to the Sulu conduits) for delivering it to the Abu Sayyaff lair, perhaps with another lil bag containing for immediate Abu Sayyaff expenses.
Of course, none of this would have been possible unless the Abu Sayyaff gangmen authorised it, i.e., a conduit to take the message across to the "negotiators" saying they were requiring a satellite phone (and other tokens of good faith, etc.) so they coulld speak directly to the Italians (thereby bypassisng Philippine authorities/negotiators).
Because the Philippines is suffering hugely from a lack of credibility, i.e., that they will be able to resolve this crisis on their own, it is also likely that the Italians themselves sought a direct contact with the Abu Sayyaff. Easy enough to do that. There are so many middle-men, legit and not, in Manila (Malacanang) and in Mindanao for hire. If all else fails on the local middlemen front, I reckon, the Italians can turn to the French because the French have had experience in managing a far larger kidnap for ransom crisis in the same jungles in the South, i.e., Sipadan hostage negotiations. The French used a Libyan conduit and could very well recommend the services of the Libyan again to the Italians. (Besides the Libyan conduit that was used years ago has a strong Italian background so, molto bene.)
One more thing, the Abu Sayyaffs know Italians will pay up just like what they did when Fr Bossi was captured, and they know full well that the "weakest link" in the current multi-national hostage crisis are the Italians. So they went for the Italians! Smart! Very smart!
Pardon my vivid imagination but I can't help it -- the whole thing is just so randomly stupid!
The Mindanao Examiner first sounded the emergency alarm weeks and weeks ago! Why is it that government began to act with "fervour" these last few days.
I simply don't understand. And Edong Ermita pronouncing that he underestimated the Abu Sayyaff? As if it was the most normal thing to expect! He said they in Malacanang thought the Abu Sayyaff were simple minded, hence underestimated the bandits... just gobsmacking in the extreme.
I do realise that the situation as it stands today seems very complicated, but actually it's not if you think about it.
How to simplify what appears to be complicated:
Government simply must back off because they are useless, let the Europeans negotiate directly after all, whether we like it or not, that's how it's going to end. We, the Europeans, will end up paying as sure as the sun rises. RP government's role as ever, will be minimal, they will merely be service providers so govt need not be worried. Their emissaries will be paid both ways, one by the Italians and the other by the Abu Sayyaffs.
So Gordon must back off (he may tearjerk all he wants but just won't work); all the other Filipino dodos there must also back off. Even Nelson Allaga can go back to his favourite cocktail lounge and drink himself to sleep all he wants (his personal services are not exactly required -- his junior officers can accompany the convoy, that's all they are good for anyway). All that's required of this government is to act as service providers. For this hostage crisis to come to an end, government's perfidious men and their so-called Abu Sayyaff conduits must be taken out of the negotiation equation proper -- they are useless, they are clueless, they are morons!
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