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Philippines: Another ICRC worker free after kidnapping incident

by francisrivera | April 2, 2009 at 12:21 pm

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The International Red Cross Workers abduction in Mindanao gets further development as a local Red Cross worker was set free by the moro terrorist group "Abu Sayyaf". Following this, another Swiss worker named Andreas Notter was released last Saturday.

It was 15 January in Jolo, Sulu when the SUV ridden by the ICRC workers were intercepted by this terrorist group and 3 ICRC workers were taken as hostage using the same vehicle as their getaway. Among the kidnapped were ICRC Zamboanga head Andreas Notter, a 38-year-old Swiss national; Water Habitat delegate Eugenio Vagni, 62, Italian; and ICRC engineer Mary Jean Lacaba, a Filipina. The ICRC workers were on a mission to improve water facilities in a Jolo jail.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) personally appealed to the abductors to release their workers.

"Our message to Abu Sayyaf is: please spare and release Mary Jean, Eugenio and Andreas," said the ICRC's president, Jakob Kellenberger. "All they were doing was helping people in need in your area. There is no ideology or religious law that could justify killing them."

A glimpse of hope was seen when one of the workers Mary Jean Lacaba was released 2 April 2009.

16 days after, 18 April 2009, Andreas Notter was released.