THE fate of South Africans Carel and Monique Strydom who are being held hostage in the Philippines is on hold after the Philippine government said it needs a cooling off period before resuming stalled talks with Muslim rebels holding 21 mostly foreign hostages on the island of Jolo. “We have decided that we are going to take three or four days off to review [the situation] and then we would see what has to be done,” presidential Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora said. The fundamentalist Abu Sayyaf rebels, which is fighting for an Islamic state in the south of this mainly Roman Catholic country, have demanded the replacement of presidential adviser Roberto Aventajado as chief government negotiator. They have also renewed their demand for a separate Muslim homeland, which Manila has consistently rejected. The Estrada administration has been under growing international pressure to resolve the hostage crisis as soon as possible.