British Foreign Secretary rules out Bigley negotiations

The British government is ready to listen Ken Bigley’s kidnappers but will not enter into negotiations with them for the hostage’s release, Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in Baghdad today.

“We cannot enter into negotiations but if hostage takers have a message, we will listen to it carefully,” Mr Straw said in Baghdad following a meeting with Iraq’s deputy prime minister for national security, Barham Saleh.

Mr Bigley, 62, was abducted on September. 16 along with two Americans from their Baghdad home by the dreaded Tawhid and Jihad group, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The two Americans, Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley, were decapitated and gruesome videos and their murders have appeared on the Internet, along with videotapes of Bigley pleading with Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair to spare his life.

Mr Straw, who arrived in Baghdad today after talks with Kurdish leaders in the north, said he discussed the Bigley case with Saleh and other Iraqi authorities but refused to give details. More than 140 Iraqis have been abducted in Iraq, among whom at least 26 have been killed.

Mr Bigley’s abduction and his heart-wrenching appeals for Blair to help save his life have drawn attention to the crisis in Iraq at a time when the premier had wanted to focus attention on domestic issues ahead of elections expected next year.

Mr Straw reaffirmed Britain’s determination to defeat terrorism in Iraq so that Iraq can hold national elections in January. He said he was ”impressed and encouraged” by progress in combating the insurgency, despite an upsurge in violence over the past month.

“The fight against terrorism is a fight for all of us,” he said. “That is why it is crucial that the Iraqi people, with our support, are able to defeat this terrorism here in Iraq.”

Despite the disorder, he said there had been good ”technical progress” in preparing for the January elections.

“We were always determined to do everything we could to ensure that the (UN) Security Council’s deadline of January 31 is met and I have been impressed and encouraged by what I have heard today,” he said.

Saleh, a top Iraqi Kurdish official, noted US and Iraqi success last week in regaining control of the Sunni Triangle city of Samarra from the rebels and said the government was in contact with representatives of the insurgent stronghold Fallujah to resolve the stand-off there.

Saleh said progress had been made difficult because of opposition from “terrorists and extremists” who oppose a settlement.

“In the new Iraq, force is a last resort,” Saleh said.