By
The Associated Press
CEBU, Philippines - Six Western hostages freed from months of captivity by Muslim rebels left the Philippines yesterday aboard a plane bound for Tripoli, where they were to thank Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi for the $1 million that his country reportedly paid for each person's release.
Negotiators hugged the hostages at the foot of the plane's steps, surrounded by flowers, a cake, a brass band playing and balloons floating into the sky.
One of the six, South African Callie Strydom, had been freed by the Abu Sayyaf rebels earlier in the day. The five others, including Strydom's wife, Monique, were released Sunday.
The Strydoms embraced tightly and kissed as they were reunited on the tarmac of Cebu's airport, where the luxurious Libyan Ilyushin plane - formerly used by Russian President Boris Yeltsin - waited.
"I'm very happy," Monique said after seeing her husband. "But I'm very sad for all the other men who weren't released."
The Abu Sayyaf are still holding six Westerners and 12 Filipinos in jungle camps on remote Jolo island in the southern Philippines.
The rebels agreed to release the six hostages after Libya accepted their ransom demand, negotiators said.
Libya has long-standing ties with Muslim rebels in the mostly Catholic Philippines. Libya has helped mediate between guerrillas and the government and helped build schools and mosques in the impoverished south. But Libya also has been accused of training rebels.
Libyan Ambassador Saleem Adam dismissed allegations that his country was trying to improve its international image by paying the multimillion-dollar ransom. "This is a humanitarian mission," he said. "It has no other motivation."
President Joseph Estrada welcomed the release and said he hoped the remaining foreign hostages could be freed by next week. The Abu Sayyaf have insisted on freeing the hostages in batches to avert any military attack.
Freedom was bittersweet for the released hostages because of having to leave loved ones and friends behind with the rebels.
"We knew this could happen, that we would not be released together," said German Werner Wallert, whose son, Marc, remained captive. "We had agreed, and all the hostages had agreed, that whoever had the possibility to go out, he must go out, no matter if others have to stay back."
`"t's not easy coming out one-by-one because we've been together in this for so long," Strydom said.
Strydom was released despite a last-minute rebel demand that negotiators bring them two guerrillas arrested at a bank last week carrying $240,000 cash. Negotiators said they were unable to locate the two arrested guerrillas, who were freed on bail Saturday.
The cash is believed to be part of the estimated $5.5 million in ransom paid to the rebels for the previous release of nine Malaysians and a German.
Most of the foreign hostages were kidnapped April 23 from Malaysia's Sipadan diving resort. The Abu Sayyaf also seized three French television journalists last month who were covering the hostage crisis, and a dozen Filipino Christian evangelists who visited the rebels' camp to pray for the captives.
On Sunday, the rebels freed Monique Strydom, Sonia Wendling of France, French-Lebanese citizen Marie Moarbes, German Werner Wallert, and Maryse Burgot, a French journalist.
The Abu Sayyaf, the smaller of two Muslim rebel groups in the southern Philippines, says it is fighting for an independent Islamic state. The government, however, considers them bandits.
The rebels have been holding the hostages in a jungle on Jolo, 580 miles south of Manila. Before the kidnapping they were estimated to number about 500 in the province but have grown to 5,000 as many recruits have been attracted by the large ransom payments, a military official said.
Still in captivity are one French, one German and two Finns kidnapped from the Malaysian resort, two French journalists, and the 12 Filipino evangelists.
In Pretoria, South Africa, Strydom's father, Jannie, said the family's "hearts are full of joy" over the release after frequent reports of a solution proved untrue. "There were so many reports - we did not know what to believe and what not," he said.
