Government won’t negotiate directly with Nigerian hostage takers

The Philippine government has rejected appeals to directly negotiate with Nigerian gunmen holding hostages eight of its nationals and three South Koreans.

Brushing off calls by relatives of some of the hostages for direct talks, Foreign Undersecretary Esteban Conejos said they would rely on the Nigerian government to bring an end to the crisis.

A day earlier, one of the Filipino hostages appealed for help in a recorded radio message, saying they were being beaten and starved by their captors in a Nigerian jungle.

The recorded message could be "an attempt to sow panic among us especially to raise the anxiety level of the families here," Conejos said.

In the recording aired by dzBB radio, one of the Filipino hostages said they feared for their lives and urged the government to contact the kidnappers because "every single hour is important."

But in the same recording, a heavily accented voice could be heard in the background telling the hostage what to say.

Conejos said Nigerian government negotiators have contacted the gunmen who seized the eight Filipino workers and three South Korean executives last week from a Daewoo Engineering and Construction site in the oil-rich African nation’s southern delta region.

"We have agreed – the South Korean government, Daewoo and the Philippine government – that we will not be dragged into a negotiation, separate or tripartite with the kidnappers," Conejos told reporters.

"We have been assured by the Nigerian government that all of our eight OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) are sound and in good condition," Conejos said.

He stressed that only the Nigerian government was authorized to enter into talks with the kidnappers, whose identities and demands remain unknown.

Conejos said he met with the families of the hostages yesterday to brief them on the talks, and appealed to the press to avoid being used by the kidnappers in advancing their interests.

Philippine diplomats were also working closely with South Korean officials on the ground in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, 26 of 45 Filipinos who also worked in the Daewoo compound were flown home to Manila yesterday while the rest were scheduled to return today, Conejos said. – Pia Lee-Brago, AFP