OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Thursday 6.00pm.
PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki on Thursday expressed confidence that South African hostages, Callie and Monique Strydom, who are been held by Muslim rebels in the Philippines, will be rescued.
In a special address to the nation, where he focused on the crisis in Zimbabwe, Mbeki expressed the government’s sympathy to families of the two hostages.
At the same time the government said it will oppose the payment of a ransom for the release of the 21 hostages.
Jerry Matsila, the deputy director general of foreign affairs, said that if the captors were paid the R18-million ransom they are rumoured to be demanding it “will only encourage others to do the same.” He said the government is “principally opposed to ransom payments.”
Matsila told reporters in Pretoria that the government has heard indirectly that the abductors, members of the Abu Sayyaf rebel movement, have demanded R18-million from the Philippine government.
Nur Misuari, the Muslim negotiator working to secure the release of the hostages, last week said he will not entertain any ransom demands from the rebels. Matsila also reiterated government concern that force should not be used to free the hostages.
Heavy fighting has been reported between the rebels and government troops, but Matsila said the Philippines’ ambassador to Pretoria has assured him that only peaceful means will be used to secure the hostages’ release.
The rebels captured two South Africans, nine Malaysians, three Germans, two French, two Finns, two Filipinos and a Lebanese national in an armed raid on a Malaysian resort island on Easter Sunday.
The hostages were taken to the southern Philippine island of Jolo, where they are being held in dire conditions. Government troops have surrounded the area where they are being held, prompting threats by the captors to execute hostages unless the siege was lifted. — AFP