May 17, 2000, Seattle Times / AP, Rebels double ransom for German, by Jim Gomez,

May 17, 2000, Seattle Times / AP, Rebels double ransom for German, by Jim Gomez, 

JOLO, Philippines - Islamic rebels want a $2 million ransom for an ailing German woman who is just one of their 19 foreign hostages - a demand Philippine negotiators have rejected.

Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon said the Abu Sayyaf captors had increased their demand from the $1 million previously asked for the safe release of Renate Wallert, 57, who has high blood pressure.

The hostages - three Germans, two French citizens, two South Africans, two Finns, a Lebanese, nine Malaysians and two Filipinos - were abducted April 23 from Sipadan Island, a Malaysian diving resort. They were then taken to the Philippine island of Jolo.

Despite intense international pressure to release the hostages - especially Wallert - chief negotiator Robert Aventajado said the government has ruled out any ransom, as has each of the governments of the foreign hostages.

Television footage shot yesterday by GMA7 TV shows Wallert sitting on the floor and using her arms to move herself out to the steps of the captives' hut.

Earlier pictures showed her lying, apparently nearly comatose, in a hammock. Her condition has improved since she began taking medicine for high blood pressure, negotiators have said.

In contrast to earlier images of sullen-faced captives, yesterday's footage of the hostages showed some of them smiling and even clowning.

"I'm fine," Lebanese Marie Moarbes said in a message to her father. "Don't worry about me. I'm worrying about you. Don't smoke too much!"

Aventajado said negotiations will start today or tomorrow, with the government insisting that Abu Sayyaf leaders first agree on their demands. The hostage negotiations are an opportunity to address such larger problems as well, he said.

"The issue is still poverty. The issue of land. The issue of injustice," Aventajado said. "What's happening now is just a small component of a larger struggle."

In Manila, where police are on high alert, concerned about a possible spread of Islamic militancy to the capital, at least 10 people were wounded when a bomb exploded in a luxury shopping mall in the Makati financial district.

The metropolitan police commander said the explosion - the third to hit Manila in the past week - could be the result of a war between youth gangs, and that involvement of Muslim extremists in the incident "would be the last prospect."

The conflicting statements by senior officials over what the guerrillas want came as a government panel prepared for the start of its first full-scale negotiations with the fundamentalist Abu Sayyaf guerrillas.

The rebels defended seizing the hostages as part of a struggle to force Manila to sign a peace deal and recognize an Islamic state in this mostly Roman Catholic country.

The rebels, in a statement Tuesday to journalists who saw the hostages, urged world bodies to support their goal of a separate homeland for the country's five million Muslims.

Jolo island, 600 miles south of Manila, is a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf, one of two groups fighting to establish an Islamic state separate from the Philippines.

Information from Reuters is included in this report.