1:30 PM
MANILA - Libya has agreed to pay US$1 million for each of the 12 foreign hostages held by Moslem rebels in the southern Philippines, clearing the way for their release fairly soon, sources close to the negotiations said on Tuesday.
The hostages were to have been freed last weekend but the fundamentalist Abu Sayyaf guerrillas held off the release after Libya haggled to lower the ransom to $700,000 per captive, according to the sources, who asked not to be identified.
Manila's chief government negotiator Robert Aventajado and governments of nationals held by the guerrillas have stoutly maintained they opposed paying ransom.
"The bottom line here is money," a source close to the negotiations said.
Libya has mounted a major initiative to secure the release of the hostages and diplomats have said Tripoli wants to improve its international image after years of isolation following the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
In Washington, the U.S. State Department said it disapproved of paying ransom money and Libya's actions would not win it the sympathy of the United States.
"We don't think the payment of ransom for hostages is appropriate. We're against it. We always have been. We don't think it's a good practice," said spokesman Richard Boucher.
"I'll criticise generically anybody who offers ransom in whatever case. It applies in this case ... This is not endearing action by the Libyan government," he added.
Libya also brokered a 1996 peace deal between Manila and the mainstream Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), then the biggest rebel group fighting for an Islamic state in the south of the mainly Catholic Philippines.
The sources said they did not know how the money was to be transferred to rebel hands but added that it was part of a package deal which would also involve Libyan funding of livelihood projects in poor Moslem areas in the Philippine south.
Government spokesmen could not immediately be reached for comment on the reported ransom deal.
Earlier, Manila relaxed its demand for the release of the 12 hostages in one go and said it may now accept their release in batches.
"Let's say we go in ready to receive everybody but (if) for some reason they cannot all be released at the same time, then I can decide on the ground... That's the new policy," Aventajado told Reuters.
Asked if it meant he would accept a certain number of hostages and come back for the others, he said: "That's what it means ... but that would depend on the situation that will confront me on the ground."
The rebels have refused to release all their hostages together, fearing a military offensive once their captives are free. Instead, they were reported to have offered to free them in stages.
Libyan envoy Rajab Azzarouq, who is brokering the negotiations, told reporters last weekend the government side might agree to a batch-by-batch release if there was a firm timetable for the hostages' freedom to prevent negotiations from dragging on indefinitely.
"If you leave it open-ended, you might have to renegotiate (for the others) again," Azzarouq said.
Presidential spokesman Ricardo Puno, speaking before the latest ransom report, said in a radio interview: "There is every hope that both Ambassador Azzarouq and Secretary Aventajado will be able to get this thing done very quickly. I think optimism has returned."
Mohamed Ismail, an aide of Azzarouq, also sounded hopeful.
Asked when the negotiators would go to Jolo to discuss the new proposal with the rebels and bring back the hostages, he said: "I think by Friday at the most, though possibly before that."
The rebels seized 21 mostly foreign hostages from a Malaysian diving resort on April 23 and brought them to jungle hideouts on Jolo island, 960 km (600 miles) south of Manila.
They have freed nine Malaysians, a German woman and a Filipina but still hold a Filipino resort worker and nine tourists - three French nationals, two South Africans, two Germans and two Finns.
They also hold three members of a French television crew who were abducted last month while covering the hostage saga.
The Philippine military says the rebels have collected 245 million pesos ($5.5 million) in ransom money for those already freed and have been using a big portion of the money to buy guns.
Immigration Commissioner Rufus Rodriguez said on Tuesday he had alerted airports and seaports around the country against the possible escape of rebel chieftains Galib Andang - known as Commander Robot - and Mujib Susukan.
"The report from intelligence sources is that they are planning to leave the country using fake Philippine passports or foreign passports," Rodriguez said. "We cannot allow that."
- REUTERS
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