The Philippines has asked Nigeria to abandon attempts to rescue 24 Filipinos kidnapped from a ship in the Niger Delta, fearing that such efforts could further endanger their lives.
�We want to put our Filipino seafarers out of harm�s way, so we appealed to the Nigerian government to forego any operation,� AFP quoted Foreign Affairs Undersecretary, Esteban Conejos, as saying.
�If there are ways to resolve this peacefully, we want to exhaust them,� he added, saying his government was still against paying any ransom.
The 24 Filipinos were seized by gunmen from a Nigerian-flagged, German-owned cargo ship last week.
Conejos said there was still no breakthrough in negotiations with the kidnappers and he was not aware if there had been any demands set for the release of the Filipinos. He also could not confirm which group had seized the Filipinos.
President Gloria Arroyo ordered a ban on coming of Filipino workers to Nigeria in the wake of the kidnapping, the second such hostage crisis involving Filipinos in the region in the past six months.