Rebels want U.S. to release convict

By Amit Baruah

SINGAPORE, AUG. 29. After releasing six hostages held for the last four months, the Abu Sayyaf guerilla group, which operates in the southern Philippines, announced today that it had taken an American hostage.

An Abu Sayyaf spokesman told a Filipino radio station that Mr. Jeffrey Craig Schilling, who he claimed was a CIA agent, would be killed if the United States did not release Ramzi Yousaf, convicted of the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing in New York, and two other convicts. Mr. Schilling, who was kidnapped in the city of Zamboanga, has reportedly been taken by boat to Jolo island, the hideout of the Abu Sayyaf.

While Philippine authorities stated that a man who matched the identity given by the group had entered the country in March, a U.S. embassy spokesman said the report was being checked. ``We have heard of this (kidnapping) report and obviously we are checking it. But we can't confirm it yet,'' a U.S. Embassy spokesman was quoted as saying in Manila. The other two convicts, whose release is being demanded by the guerilla group, have been identified as Abdurrahman Omar and Abu Haider.

The group's spokesman also told the local radio station that two more demands would be made in the next three days. ``We will not hesitate to execute this American guy if the Philippine and U.S. Governments don't listen to our demands. If the Philippine President, Mr. Joseph Estrada and the U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton do not listen to our demands, we will shame the Governments,'' the spokesman maintained. According to him, one American was ``equivalent'' to 10 Europeans, the spokesman said ransom was not the main objective behind the kidnapping. He said the Abu Sayyaf group wanted to ``try'' the super power.

The guerilla group still holds six Western hostages, whose release is expected in the coming week. The released hostages, who have arrived in Tripoli, were freed following Libyan mediation. The new kidnapping, if true, could also have a bearing on the release of the remaining Western hostages. In the past, the Americans have taken the position that the Abu Sayyaf group was a bunch of terrorists with whom there could be no negotiations.

A spokesman for the Philippine President said in Manila: ``If it is true that there is really an American (taken captive) and if he is really CIA, they (the Abu Sayyaf) should not gloat. They're going to galvanise international opinion against them. The world will unite in the realisation of what a big problem the Abu Sayyaf poses,'' Mr. Ricardo Puno said.

Yet another angle to the capture of the American could be the Abu Sayyaf fear that a massive military operation would be launched against the group the moment the last Western hostage is freed. However, today's development could mean that the Estrada Government may have to be more circumspect in the short-term in giving the military the go-ahead for an operation to hunt down the Abu Sayyaf, who are flush with funds and weapons.

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Section  : International
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