SUVA, Fiji--Fiji's military chief said Wednesday that Syrian
insurgents have agreed to release 45 United Nations peacekeepers
later this week without conditions.
His comments couldn't be immediately verified by either the U.N.
or the Nusra Front.
Fijian Brig. Gen. Mosese Tikoitoga said Fiji had received word
from U.N. headquarters in New York that the Nusra Front would
release the men in the coming days without any conditions or
demands. He didn't give a precise timetable or specifics of how the
handover would take place.
The U.N., however, has a policy of not discussing ongoing
captive situations until they are resolved. It earlier said it is
engaging with a wide range of parties within Syria, and is making
every effort to ensure the safety and security of the
peacekeepers.
Jon Greenway, a spokesman for U.N. peacekeeping, said Wednesday
it had nothing new to report.
The al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, which typically communicates
via its Twitter feeds, didn't mention the matter of the Fijian
peacekeepers Wednesday on its social networks.
The Nusra Front had earlier listed three demands for releasing
the Fijian peacekeepers it took captive Aug. 28.
The group had demanded to be taken off the U.N. terrorist list,
wanted humanitarian aid delivered to parts of the Syrian capital
Damascus, and wanted compensation for three of its fighters it says
were killed in a shootout with U.N. officers.
Gen. Tikoitoga said friendships that Fiji had built through
peacekeeping over the years had contributed to the positive
outcome, and "have not gone unnoticed by the Syrian people."
He said three senior Fijian Army officers, led by Land Force
Commander Lt. Col. Jone Kalouniwai, had left for Syria. He said the
officers would soon be in place to receive the 45 captured men.
The Fijian peacekeepers had been stationed in the Golan Heights
between Syria and Israel. There has been heavy fighting in the area
since Syrian rebels captured a border crossing near the abandoned
town of Quneitra last month.
Fighters from al Qaeda's Syria branch abducted the Fijian
peacekeepers and surrounded two Filipino contingents serving as
peacekeepers the following day. The Filipino troops later
escaped.
The U.N. force, known as UNDOF, was established in May 1974
following intensified firing on the Israel-Syria border after the
1973 Arab-Israeli war. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria
in 1967, and Syria has campaigned for decades for return of the
land.
For nearly four decades, the U.N. monitors helped enforce a
stable truce between Israel and Syria but the Golan Heights has
increasingly become a battlefield in the more than three-year-old
Syrian conflict.
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