Hostages celebrate freedom as minister thanks Libya

TRIPOLI, Libya -- Four former hostages have been celebrating their freedom on the Libyan coast while officials in the Philippines promised to crack down on rebels still holding 19 hostages.

"We are now facing the sunrise after a long time of darkness," Risto Vahanen from Finland said on Tuesday.

Vahanen was one of the four hostages brought to Libya to thank the government that engineered their release from Abu Sayyaf rebels, reportedly by paying $1 million in ransom for each.

Vahanen joined Finnish, French and German foreign ministry officials for an hour-long ceremony arranged by Libya in the Red Palace, a historic fortress on the Mediterranean.

The ceremony comes three days after German Marc Wallert, French national Stephane Loisy and Finns Seppo Juhani Franti and Risto Mirco Vahanen were released from Jolo Island.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer was expected to arrive in Tripoli on Tuesday night to thank Libya for its role in freeing the hostages.

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"The minister will stop off in Tripoli en route to the United Nations General Assembly in New York to deliver the German government's thanks," a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.

Germany has praised Libya's role in securing the release of its hostages and Fischer singled out Libyan envoy Rajab Azzarouq for special thanks.

"Now that the sun has risen again, we are facing a new life that we think will be very rewarding. And in our new life, we have got a lot of new friends and new parents," Vahanen said, adding that the hostages had "adopted" Azzarouq "as our new father."

Vahanen told Finnish television on Monday that some of the former women hostages had been raped by their captors.

However, he said on Tuesday that reporters had misinterpreted his statements.

"The questions were misleading and also what has been said has been misunderstood," he said.

"We were humiliated and mistreated, all of us, but we didn't report this before we were released because we were afraid of being abused more or harassed."

The ceremony on Tuesday was attended by the son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, Seif el-Islam Gadhafi who, when asked whether Libya's prestige had been boosted, said "of course."

Libya's intervention on behalf of the hostages has been seen as an attempt to repair relations with the outside world.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.

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Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG)
Libya
Governments on the WWW: Libya
Philippine Information Agency

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