PHILIPPINE officials have suspended contacts with Muslim extremists holding 20 mostly foreign hostages, sources close to the talks said on Sunday. Provincial governor Abdusakur Tan ordered government emissaries to cease visiting the Abu Sayyaf jungle hideout on the southern Philippine island of Jolo, said the sources, who asked not to be named. The emissaries had been instrumental in delivering food and medicines to the Filipino, Finnish, French, German, Lebanese, Malaysian and South African hostages, who were kidnapped in the Malaysian resort of Sipadan on April 23. On Friday, a taped message from rebel leader Galib Andang said that South African captive Monique Strydom had suffered a miscarriage. He said that medical supplies would no longer be allowed into the Abu Sayyaf camp, as the rebels wanted to put pressure on the government.
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