[Islam-Online- Top News]

· Released Philippine hostages arrive home

The Libyan-brokered hostage release deal in southern Philippines has proven that this Arab-African country still has an important role to play in the Muslim world.

The Abu Sayyaf group hostage-takers agreed to have the Libyan negotiation team deal with Philippine authorities after the failure of other negotiations, including that of the Malaysians.

As the hostages were released, the diplomatic coup by the Libyans has become a major affair in the region.

With pressure by regional governments mounting, the intransigent Philippine government desired to deal with the four-month-old hostage crisis with armed intervention in south Jolo.

The Abu Sayyaf group, led by Commander Robot (the leader's nickname), had been holding 13 Malaysian hostages that may have swayed the Malaysian government to veto any armed attack against the Jolo hideout. Malaysian authorities acted alone and secured the release of the Malaysian nationals independently.

The release of the Malaysian hostages was expected to have been the final breakthrough before the Philippine army was to have attacked the Abu Sayyaf camp, observers said, adding that they feared the worst for the lives of the remaining Western and Philippine hostages.

Tripoli's intervention in the crisis was extremely timely for Abu Sayyaf and greatly helped the peaceful unraveling of the situation.

By brokering a deal to win the release of 21 hostages held by Filipino-Muslims, Libya took a step towards changing its international image. Seen formerly as a rogue state, only the Libyans were well placed to the extent to get negotiations going.

Experts on Libyan affairs here in Asia say that through the negotiation efforts, the Libyans hoped to earn the goodwill of European nations in the near future. Most of the hostages to be released are of European origin.

Analysts in the region say Tripoli's active role in helping solve the kidnap drama was an obvious attempt to end the imposed isolation against Libya. After the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people, the U.S. succeeded in convincing the UN and the rest of the world to "punish" the Libyans with unilateral sanctions.

In the eyes of the UN and the Western world, Libya's government is viewed as prone to terrorism and brutality.

These sanctions have severely damaged the Libyan economy, causing several internal development projects to be abandoned and a severe drain of the country's resources altogether.

Experts in Libyan diplomatic circles argue that the country of Muammar Gaddafi needed Europe's support to persuade the U.S. to lift the damaging unilateral sanctions. However, while it remains unclear whether Libya's mediation efforts signal the rehabilitation of the regime, it is obvious that the Libyans still have strong contacts with "rebel" groups in the world.

"This could be an important element in the rehabilitation of Libya back into the folds of the international community. They may finally be used to help in solving many of the conflicts in the region due to the obvious fact that they are still close to such rebel groups, the like of the Abu Sayyaf of the Philippines," a diplomat in Kuala Lumpur who wanted to remain incognito told Islam Online.

Despite recent overtures by Gaddafi, there are persistent concerns that he continues to orchestrate unrest, particularly in Africa. And while Libyan officials are quick to deny a hidden agenda behind its assistance to the Philippines, they have made sure the world knows whom to credit, wrote a Philippine news agency.

A laminated portrait of Colonel Gaddafi was raised in the air as photographers and TV cameramen mobbed the five freed Westerners as they arrived in the southern city of Zamboanga yesterday en route to Tripoli, where they were flown to thank the Libyan leader personally.

A foundation headed by Gaddafi's son reportedly bankrolled the deal to free the hostages, estimated to be worth around $40 million. Libya's main man in the negotiations was former Libyan ambassador to the Philippines Rajab Azzarouq, a close confidante of the Libyan leader.

The Philippine government agreed on Libya's offer to mediate a release of the hostages in late May amid mounting international pressure to resolve the crisis quickly and peacefully. Over the years Libya has mediated between Muslim separatist guerillas and the Philippine government. It also assisted in building schools and mosques in the country's southern region. An estimated five million Malay-Muslim minority reside in the war torn region.

In the past, Libya has been accused of training fighters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the larger of the two secessionist groups in the Philippines waging a "jihad" against the government led by Tagalog Christians in Manila.

The Philippine government has been successful in its military attacks on the Abu Sayyaf group in the southern Philippines. The MILF has also suffered a reversal of fortunes recently thanks to major offensives by the Philippines government. These attacks are, however, believed to be at the source of the hostage-taking situation.

If the government of the Philippines has succeeded in crippling the wings of the groups in mainland Mindanao, it has, however, been on the losing side of the hostage crisis. Whether the government will succeed in putting an end to the activism by the Muslims or not, is now the next bet among diplomatic circles in the region.

Meanwhile, the abduction has reaped huge cash and propaganda points for the Abu Sayyaf, a ragtag band of no more than 1,000 guerillas before the kidnap crisis. Ransom payments, estimated to have reached $30 million so far, have promptly gone into firepower and new recruits. The group is said to have invested heavily in M14, M15 and M16 machine guns, and in other sophisticated materials such as grenade and bomb launchers.

If the end of the crisis is expected to be a bloody one after the release of all the hostages, the Philippine army, which is always ready to attack the Abu Sayyaf group anytime, will certainly suffer serious loses, experts say.

The Abu Sayyaf group, however, seems to have the guarantees of the Libyan and Malaysian governments that their region will be developed and that the Philippine army will stay away from them.

"How good is this guarantee to the Sayyaf group remains unclear. Yet there is no reason for the Philippines government to start another war within such prospects of peaceful settlements," the diplomat in Kuala Lumpur said.

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