By Kanupriya Kapoor and Manuel Mogato

JAKARTA/MANILA June 24 (Reuters) – Indonesia mentioned on Friday a halt on coal shipments to the Philippines will stay in place till Manila can safe its waters after seven Indonesian sailors had been kidnapped, the most recent in a string of abductions.

Philippine authorities couldn’t instantly affirm the hostage-taking however mentioned a Filipino lady held since September was freed on Friday by Abu Sayyaf, an Islamist militant group that has amassed tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} from kidnappings for ransom.

It was unclear whether or not the sailors had been taken by Abu Sayaff, which has beheaded two Canadian nationals in current weeks after ransom deadlines handed. The group remains to be holding males from Japan, the Netherlands and Norway.

Indonesia is worried that piracy within the Sulu Sea space, a serious sea site visitors hall for the world’s high thermal coal exporter, might attain ranges beforehand seen in Somalia.

“The moratorium on coal exports to the Philippines will be extended until there is a guarantee for security from the Philippines government,” Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi instructed reporters.

Indonesia provides 70 p.c of the Philippines’ coal import wants, which Indonesian information exhibits stood at about 15 million tonnes, price round $800 million, final 12 months.

Analysts say $40 billion price of cargo passes by the Sulu Sea space a 12 months, together with supertankers from the Indian Ocean that can’t use the crowded Malacca Strait.

Marsudi mentioned earlier the seven Indonesians had been kidnapped by two totally different armed teams in assaults on a tugboat towing a coal-carrying barge and that the federal government would “try all options to free the hostages.”

Fourteen Indonesians had been kidnapped in two separate assaults on tugboats in March and April however had been freed in May. In April, the Indonesian navy instructed all business vessels to keep away from piracy-prone waters close to the southern Philippines.

Filipino captive Marites Flor, kidnapped from an upscale resort in September together with Canadian Robert Hall, was freed at daybreak on Friday on Jolo, a military spokesman mentioned. Hall was beheaded on June 13.

In Davao City, President-elect Rodrigo Duterte mentioned they had been “able to negotiate” for the discharge of two captives, a Norwegian man and Filipino lady.

“The kidnapped Norwegian could not get out yet because he could not cross because of the rough seas,” Duterte mentioned, including “there will be time that I will have to confront the Abu Sayyaf.”

Alarmed on the frequency of assaults, port authorities in some areas of Indonesia, notably Kalimantan on Borneo, have stopped issuing permits to ships taking coal to the southern Philippines. (Additional reporting by Fergus Jensen in JAKARTA and Enrico Dela Cruz in MANILA; Writing by Kanupriya Kapoor and Randy Fabi; Editing by Martin Petty)

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