The European Union is to send its foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, to the Philippines to try to help free 21 hostages held by Muslim rebels. EU Foreign Ministers took the decision at a meeting on the Azores Islands in the Atlantic, but they said that they would act only in conjunction with the Philippines government. The initiative is in response to a request from France, Germany and Finland, whose nationals are among the hostages. They were seized from a Malaysian diving resort two weeks ago.
