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Philippines: Militants demand ransom for kidnapped Italian
 [ADN Kronos] Islamic militants who abducted Italian aid worker Eugenio Vagni in the southern Philippines in January, have demanded a "ridiculous" ransom for his release, sources have told the head of the Philippines Red Cross, Richard Gordon. Gordon said he had received information that the kidnappers who are linked to Abu Sayyaf are asking for a ransom, but had been unable to confirm the amount."I received reports that they are now asking for ransom but I could not confirm that," Gordon told reporters during the weekly news forum in the Senate in Manila. "There was a ridiculous amount mentioned but since I did not get it from them [abductors] I don't want to mention it," he added. He said Vagni's last contact with his wife was on 2 June, when he spoke to her by telephone. On 7 June the International Committee of the Red Cross reportedly received text messages from Vagni's abductors. Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday reiterated his call for Vagni's release. The 62 year old Italian has been held captive by Islamic militants in the southern Philippines since January. At the end of his audience at the Vatican on Wednesday, the pope called for all those held in conflict zones and in particular Vagni to be freed. Marking the 150th anniversary of the Red Cross, the pope used his weekly audience "to urge the release of all those held in conflict zones and once more that of Eugenio Vagni, an employee of the Red Cross in the Philippines." Vagni was abducted with two colleagues from the International Committee of the Red Cross - Andreas Notter of Switzerland and Mary Jean Lacaba of the Philippines - in January while on a humanitarian mission on southern Jolo island. Notter and Lacaba were released in April, but attempts to rescue Vagni or negotiate his release have so far failed, although Philippines officials believe he is still alive Gordon insisted that the Red Cross did not pay a ransom for the release of Vagni's colleagues. "They keep saying Red Cross gave in to the ransom demands. The Red Cross cannot pay the ransom. Notter escaped from his abductors, while Lacaba was freed," Gordon said. The abduction of the Red Cross workers is the most high-profile kidnapping of foreign nationals since 2001, when two dozen tourists were kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf separatists from an island resort in the western Philippines. Al Bader Parad is an Abu Sayyaf leader whose group is said to be holding Vagni. Posted by: Fred 2009-06-27 |
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