From: news@netnews.upenn.edu (USENET News System)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.filipino
Subject: Filipinos Among UN Hostages Freed in Cambodia
Date: 14 Dec 92 16:26:53 GMT
Followup-To: soc.culture.filipino
Organization: University of Pennsylvania


	KOMPONG CHHNANG , Cambodia (UPI) -- The six U.N. peacekeepers held
hostage by Khmer Rouge guerrillas in Cambodia have returned to their
bases and resumed work, but some unpleasant memories of their 72-hour
ordeal remain.
	The hostages -- three Britons, two Filipinos and a New Zealander --
were held for three days by a group of guerrillas from Cambodia's
radical Khmer Rouge faction at a river base in the central province of
Kompong Thom, about 90 miles northeast of Phnom Penh.
	``Knowing they are going to point guns at you and fire -- whether or
not they are actually aiming to hit or warn you off -- that was about the
scariest part,'' said Chief Petty Officer John Oxehnam of the Royal New
Zealand Navy.
	Captured along with Oxenham were British Army Lt. Col. Mark Walton
and Capt. Richard Williams, Royal Navy Lt. Scott Verney and Filipino
Chief Petty Officers Jose Almirante and Blandino Mones.
	The six had been on patrol on the Sen River from Kompong Thom when
they were detained by a local Khmer Rouge commander, who demanded that
Phnom Penh government troops withdraw from his area.
	A trip up the Sen River from the southern end this week found
government forces working their way up the river into Khmer Rouge-
controlled areas.
	A government naval unit, aided by gunboats and landing craft,
captured one Khmer Rouge village and forced the Khmer Rouge to abandon a
second post.
	About 3 miles up the river from these two villages is the Khmer Rouge
post where the hostages were held. It is an isolated area with thick
jungle to the river's edge.
	Malaria-carrying mosquitoes abound, there are no means of
communication, and the only way out is via the river or through mine
fields. The village consists of a collection of tiny bamboo huts with
roofs of woven palm leaves, one of which was allocated to the hostages
for their three nights in captivity.
	The six are all military observers and had considerable experience in
the field, although they found it impossible to sleep on the bamboo-slat
floor at night, despite the use of mosquito nets.
	``The mosquitoes came up through the slats and got trapped in our
nets, so after an hour or so I looked up and the whole net was full of
mosquitoes buzzing around,'' said the New Zealander Oxenham.
	Oxenham's delight at being released Dec. 4 was evident at one of the
cafes in Kompong Chhnang where scrawled across the center of the curtain
were the words ``Free at last. Oxy.''
	The cheerful New Zealander said the worst part of the three-day
ordeal was when the six hostages attempted to leave the site and their
captors threatened to shoot them.
	Scott Verney, who initiated the river patrol, also recalled the
incident, which happened just after dawn on the second morning when the
six began preparing to leave the Khmer Rouge site.
	``We decided it was time to test the water and see if we were still
under arrest. So we got in the boats in broad daylight, very slowly, not
rushing, and tried to leave.
	``A couple of warning shots were fired and we then realized we were
not going anywhere fast,'' Verney said after returning to his base in
Kompong Chhnang, about 90 miles north of Phnom Penh.
	``Their mood changed at this point and they were not quite as
friendly, and they started walking around with weapons, but after we had
taken our shirts off and sat in the shade, they put their weapons down,''
said Verney.
	Verney and the others said that at no time did the Khmer Rouge
soldiers mistreat them, and their captors provided ample food and water.
	``The standard of cuisine might not have been five-star but it was
certainly adequate,'' said team leader Mark Walton.
	``They treated us well,'' said Verney. ``They were always reasonably
friendly, provided we were doing what they told us to do and we not
trying to leave.
	``We had a good working relation with them. We didn't have any
cigarettes so every time a soldier walked past we would touch his top
pocket to see if he had any cigarettes and sure enough he would pull a
packet out and give us some cigarettes.''
	Verney said the Khmer Rouge commander, who called himself Gen. Chan,
was always polite during negotiations with the six military observers
and the 12 Indonesian soldiers who came to negotiate their release.
	``He was very cool, calm, collected. He was always smiling. He used
to sit on the bamboo bed, cross his legs and speak in a low voice. Only
on one occasion he looked slightly angry.
	``It was about 10 minutes before we were released. It was nothing
serious, he just stopped smiling for two or three minutes, then returned
to his usual self, but after three days of him continuously smiling you
notice that sort of thing,'' said Verney.