Southeast Asia
President Elect Pirkko Lahti, Executive Director of the Finnish Mental
Health Association,. went to New York in early June as a member of the
Finnish Government’s delegation attending the Beijing Plus Five General
Assembly Session at the United Nations. From there she flew to the
Philippines, following an unexpected request from her government to join
medical personnel ready to provide assistance to hostages from several
countries, including two from Finland, held by the Abu Sayyaf guerrilla
group. The hostages had been kidnapped in April from a Malaysian diving
resort and taken to a remote area in the southern Philippines. She waited
on Jolo island with French and German doctors willing to enter the hostage
camp if permitted to do so in order to provide medical and psychological
assistance for the captives. She returned to Finland after nearly three
weeks of unsuccessful negotiations. Many of the hostages, including the two
Finns, were released in September.