ZAMBOANGA CITY, 22 June 2007 — Leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) yesterday said their fighters will continue working alongside government troops in searching for a kidnapped Italian priest in the troubled southern region of Mindanao.

Marine Maj. Gen. Mohammad Dolorfino said the MILF has ceased assisting government efforts to locate the Rev. Giancarlo Bossi, citing the expiration of an agreement authorizing the MILF to help in fighting criminalities and terrorism in areas where they are actively operating.

Unless it is renewed, the MILF cannot help in the rescue efforts, said Dolorfino, who is in charge of an ad hoc joint panel of the government and the MILF.

“On the part of the MILF, they have to stop active involvement in the meantime because if they are on the ground without coordination, there might be accidental encounters with government troops,” Dolorfino told reporters.

Bossi, 57, was kidnapped June 10 after celebrating mass in the coastal town of Payao in Zamboanga Sibugay province and taken to Lanao del Norte province in the Muslim autonomous region.

But Mohagher Iqbal, a senior MILF leader, said their fighters are still helping security forces track down the kidnappers and their hostage.

“There is no truth to reports that we have stopped in assisting the Philippine government in the search for the kidnapped priest. The joint rescue operation is going on,” Iqbal said told the Arab News by phone from a rebel base in central Mindanao.

He said the MILF decision to continue the rescue operation is based on humanitarian grounds.

“Freeing Father Bossi is founded mainly on humanitarian ground and also in furtherance of the gains of the peace process,” he said. “The life of man is of paramount importance over procedural matter.”

The kidnappers have demanded reportedly $1 million in exchange for the safe release of Bossi, a member of the Rome-based Pontifical Institute of Foreign Missions or PIME.

Police have blamed the group of Akiddin Abdusallam, a former MILF leader, in the kidnapping.

Iqbal has said Abdusallam had been outlawed by the MILF and is now a member of the Abu Sayyaf group, which has ties with the Jemaah Islamiyah terror network.

and largely blamed for the spate of bombings and kidnappings of foreigners in The MILF is currently negotiating with the Philippine government for a separate Muslim homeland in the restive Mindanao region.

Dolorfino said the safety of the hostage is the primary concern of the military and that there is an ongoing negotiation to secure Bossi’s freedom without paying ransom.

“Our primary consideration is Bossi’s safety. We will exert all peaceful means to resolve the matter,” he said.

Italian Envoy

On Wednesday, Italian Ambassador Rubens Anna Fedele offered to personally negotiate with Bossi’s captors.

“If the kidnappers are afraid to talk to the police because the police can arrest them, or if they are afraid of the Army because the army can shoot at them, if they don’t want to talk to the civilian authorities because they don’t trust them, then I am here,” Fedele told the Inquirer.

Fedele said he wanted to know: “How is the condition of Father Bossi, his health? Are those keeping Father Bossi, are they really the holders of Father Bossi? If they are really kidnappers, what do they want, what are their conditions to release him?”

Fr. Luciano Benedetti, a hostage victim himself, is also monitoring updates on Bossi.

Benedetti, who like Bossi belongs to PIME, recalled that when he himself was abducted in September 1998, he made some efforts to reach out to his PIME family through his abductors regarding his health problems.

His abductors eventually agreed that medicines and other basic items be sent to him. But in Bossi’s case, Benedetti is somewhat puzzled why “not a single communication has been established” since the kidnapping last June 10.

Bossi, according to Benedetti, is suffering from high blood pressure. “Despite being athletic, Father Bossi is already old,” he said.

Long walks could be stressful to Bossi, making his PIME family here more worried.

Fr. Gianni Battista Sandalo, PIME’s regional superior in the Philippines, said they are concerned with Bossi’s health.