Posted on 07/12/2004 1:43:30 PM PDT by TexKat
BAGHDAD (AFP) - A Philippine hostage faced with beheading made a final plea to Manila to pull its troops from Iraq as interim President Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar warned all kidnappers to surrender or face "the sword".
The drama unfolded as news broke that UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has tapped Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, as the new United Nations envoy to Iraq.
In a statement and video attributed to the Filipiono's kidnappers and broadcast on al-Jazeera television, the group said it had extended an original deadline to execute Angelo de la Cruz by 24 hours to 11:00 pm (1900 GMT) on Monday to give Manila more time to comply.
A senior Philippine diplomat in Baghdad earlier said the death threat had been put back until Tuesday.
But Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has rejected the demand, insisting that her handful of troops would return home as planned on August 20 in a move applauded by the United States.
This apparently sealed the father of eight's doom even as his wife and brother traveled to neighbouring Jordan to beg for mercy.
"The army did all it can do to prove to the world its intention to spare the life of the hostage," the group, calling itself the Khaled Ibn al-Walid Brigade -- the Islamic Army of Iraq -- said in a statement, as footage of de la Cruz in an orange prison suit making his final plea surrounded by masked armed men was shown.
The abductors said they had given the trucker food and water and acknowledged that he asked for his body to be sent home.
Iraq's interim government has warned against bowing to the kidnappers' demands and Yawar issued his own threat to the kidnappers.
"This is the last chance for the terrorist, the hostage taker and the criminal, after that there is only the sword and rest assured that we will cut them out from their roots," the president told reporters in Baghdad.
"We say enough to those who want to wreak havoc on this country, but if they do not stop we will not hesitate one second to use any type of force to protect the security of the Iraqi people," he declared.
A second group threatened last Thursday to behead two Bulgarian truck drivers unless US troops freed Iraqi prisoners within 24 hours, but Sofia said on Sunday it had learnt from a reliable source that Ivailo Kepov and Georgy Lazov were still alive.
Egypt was also growing increasingly concerned about an Egyptian trucker being held in Iraq for a one-million-dollar ransom.
Hostage-taking and a 14-month insurgency prompted the caretaker government to pass a tough security law last week that arms Prime Minister Iyad Allawi with a range of powers such as imposing curfews and restricting movement.
The strong tone of the president indicated the new administration meant business as it enters a third week in office, but there was no sign of a halt in the violence that has killed thousands of Iraqis and hundreds of US soldiers.
Five roadside bombs exploded in central Baghdad as a US army convoy passed by, without causing casualties, while insurgents launched a mortar attack on the infamous US-run prison at Abu Ghraib, wounding a foreign civilian contractor.
In another move to stem the bloodshed, the government will imminently announce an amnesty to insurgents who had fought US-led forces but were ready to lay down their arms.
"We are offering an amnesty definitely, for people who have not committed too many atrocious acts; everybody except murderers, rapists, and kidnappers," the interim president said in an interview with Britain's Financial Times newspaper.
Yawar also indicated Iraq would soon reinstate the death penalty, as the European Union voiced its strong opposition to the sentence.
The amnesty announcement would be followed "by a law on the death penalty," the president told reporters after meeting with Defence Minister Hazem Shaalan and National Guard Brigadier General Muther al-Rashedi
At the same time, EU foreign ministers delivered a curt message to their Iraqi counterpart, Hoshyar Zebari, who is on a trip to Brussels.
"Our policy will not change: we are opposed to capital punishment," Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot told a news conference alongside Zebari.
"We hope to continue dialogue on this issue, but I think that the message has been very clear as far as the European Union is concerned," Bot said.
On the diplomatic front, Qazi was appointed to be the United NAtions envoy to Iraq. The veteran Pakistani diplomat replaces Brazilian Sergio Vieira de Mello, who was among 22 people killed in a bomb attack at the UN headquarters in Baghdad last August.
Annan has already indicated that the new special representative would be based in the Iraqi capital despite the security situation, which has kept him from sending international UN personnel back to the country.
In addition, France and Iraq re-established diplomatic ties severed more than 13 years ago by ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein at the start of the first Gulf War in 1991.
Our Left doesn't get it. These people want us DEAD.
Please. The guy has been dead for days. How else do people think these guys are able to instantly get their videos to Al-Jazeera? All this business about extending and then retracting the deadline is window dressing. I have no idea why we think that a group of terrorists who decapitate living people would follow through with the very western tactics of negotiation.
Hoping not, but believing it so. :-(
Prayers for his family and loved ones. God Speed and success to those who are hunting these terrorists down.
Sadly, I must agree with you. They've pulled this before, and not in a very sophisticated, credible manner.
Ah, poor France and Germany..they really do think they're relevant!
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