Clark thanks Abbas after hostages are released

Prime Minister Helen Clark said today she had written to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas thanking him for his help in gaining the release of Fox News cameraman Olaf Wiig and journalist Steve Centanni.

New Zealander Wiig and Centanni, an American, were freed in good health last night after a two-week kidnap ordeal.

Helen Clark was directly involved in efforts to gain their release, calling President Abbas and sending diplomats and a police officer to Gaza City.

She said at her post-cabinet press conference today she had written to President Abbas to thank him for the "wholehearted co-operation" of the Palestinian National Authority.

"Quite simply, the release would not have been possible without their determination," she said.

"It's important that full recognition is given to them."

Peter Rider, the senior diplomat who led the New Zealand team in Gaza City, said he had been in a hotel with Wiig's wife Anita McNaught at the moment of the release.

"It was complete chaos...suddenly the guards and the media started yelling and screaming, we heard some people coming into the hotel. Anita ran out of the room and there they were, looking pretty good," he told One News.

Mr Rider said he thought the key factor in gaining their release was a groundswell of opinion among the Palestinian people, achieved particularly through Ms McNaught's efforts.

"This wasn't a popular kidnapping, it wasn't actually helping the Palestinian cause, and in the end I think the kidnappers realised they didn't have a lot of sympathy from their own people," he said.

Wiig, 36, and 60-year-old Centanni were seized in Gaza City on August 14 by a previously unknown group calling itself the Holy Jihad Brigades.

The group demanded the release of all Muslim prisoners held by the United States, and there were fears that foreign extremists, perhaps al Qaeda, had infiltrated Gaza.

But Palestinian security officials said the name was a front for local militants, and that they had known the identity of the group from the start.

The release of the two men ended Gaza's longest crisis involving foreign hostages, but left unclear who exactly was behind it and what led them to release their captives.

They were dropped off by security officials at the hotel, where Wiig thanked all those involved in gaining their release.

"My biggest concern really is that as a result of what happened to us foreign journalists will be discouraged from coming to tell the story, and that would be a great tragedy for the people of Palestine," Wiig said.

"You guys need us on the streets, and you need people to be aware of the story."

Before they were freed, the men were forced at gunpoint to convert to Islam.

Wiig's father, Reverend Roger Wiig, said he was not concerned about that.

"You've got to see that in the context of his release," he said.

"That was something that was said out of absolute necessity."

Centanni said in a phone call to Fox News he and Wiig were abducted by four masked gunmen on a sidestreet.

He described their time in captivity, saying their were at times held face down in a dark garage and were tied up in painful positions.

"I still have some sore wrists," he said.

- NZPA