Philippine and Libyan negotiators returned empty-handed yesterday after meeting Muslim rebels holding foreign hostages on Jolo island but said the guerrillas would decide in 24 hours whether to free an ailing German woman.
However, an Abu Sayyaf rebel spokesman claimed the woman was feigning her sickness.
A doctor who accompanied the negotiators said the guerrillas refused to allow the negotiating team to see the 21 captives, who were shown in previous television footage to be in a weakened condition and pleading for freedom after more than two weeks of captivity.
"They have not decided . . . they were asking for 24 hours," said the former Libyan ambassador to the Philippines, Mr Rajab Azzarouq, when asked about appeals to the captors to free Ms Renate Wallert, a 57-year-old German woman suffering from high blood pressure.
Mr Azzarouq spoke to reporters after meeting the kidnappers in their stronghold on Jolo, an island 960 km south of Manila.
He said negotiations would resume today.