Hostage rebels to discuss demands

Hostages are suffering from a range of ailments, including depression

Philippine negotiators were set to meet Muslim gunmen holding 21 hostages on Wednesday, after the rebels won a government pledge to restrict trawler fishing near islands in the south of the country.

Chief government negotiator Roberto Aventajado said the informal meeting would highlight government efforts to meet rebel demands.

The Abu Sayyaf rebels have held the mostly foreign hostages in remote jungle areas for almost seven weeks.

The negotiators, who have promised economic aid to the impoverished area, will also press for the release of four sick hostages.

A doctor who recently visited the hostages said they were suffering from a range of medical ailments, including depression, infections and a scorpion bite. Four of them required hospital treatment, she said.

Mr Aventajado said he expected to have a formal meeting with the rebels on Thursday or Friday. Only one formal meeting has taken place so far, on 27 May.

Fishing ban

The Philippine government has agreed that large fishing vessels would be banned from operating within 15km of the Sulu islands in the Muslim-populated south of the country.

Hostage Sonya Welding breaks down on seeing work to build huts

The rebels argue that the large high-tech vessels are threatening the livelihood of local Muslims.

The government has admitted that the waters are overfished and that some armed large, armed fishing vessels have attacked small fishermen.

On Saturday, Mr Aventajado discussed the problem with the chiefs of the Philippine Navy and the Coast Guard, as well as the fisheries director and representatives of a fishing companies federation.

Negotiator Parouk Hussin said the agreement on fishing "should have a very significant, positive effect on negotiations."

He added the rebels' other demands for an Islamic state and a commission to investigate alleged abuses on Filipino Muslim immigrants in the Malaysian state of Sabah "can be negotiated".

The rebels have also reportedly demanded $1m for the release of each captive.

Huts for hostages

On Friday, carpenters started building a more permanent shelter for hostages who wept as they worked.

The rebels want an independent Islamic state

Finnish hostage Risto Vahanen said the construction work was a "very bad sign" that the crisis would not end soon.

"We want to get out of here as soon as possible, and I hope the means is not through suicide or harming oneself," he said.

Pregnant hostage Monique Strydom said: "We cannot face this anymore. Next week, I'm going to stop eating."

The country's economy has been badly damaged by the hostage crisis and the series of bombs in Manila, including one on Sunday in Manila's international airport.

The police has blamed the attacks on another Muslim group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The military has launched a full-scale attack on the MILF's camps in the south.