DAMASCUS, March 9 (Xinhua) -- The captors of the UN peacekeepers have been divided on whether to release the group before setting them free on Saturday, the head of office of the UN- Arab League (AL) joint special representative to Syria told Xinhua in an interview.
"We were surprised that the (kidnapper) group was dallying with what it has promised to do. There have been great differences among them," Mokhtar Lamani said.
He said that the UN representatives in Syria had been in constant contact with all concerned parties, including the armed groups, in order to secure the release of the 21 Filipino members of the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in the Golan Heights, who were detained by armed elements linked to the Syrian opposition Wednesday.
The kidnappers asked for halting the Syrian troops shelling against their area to swap the release of the UN members, said Lamani, adding that the Syrian government and army promised to do so. "I think the shelling was halted through last night as we were told."
After hours of waiting, "We were surprised when one TV said that the peacekeepers had crossed into Jordan," he said, stressing that the peacekeepers delivery to Jordan wasn't coordinated with the UN at all.
Lamani, however, lashed out at the remarks of kidnappers' spokesman who claimed that the UN mission in Syria considered the kidnappers as terrorists.
Earlier, the UN and AL condemned the kidnapping and called for the immediate release of the UN staffers.
The kidnapping incident is the first of its kind since the conflict in Syria started almost two years ago. UNDOF was established to implement and oversee a ceasefire between Syria and Israel.
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