Negotiations for the release of two Chinese engineers and their escorts kidnapped in Pakistan last Saturday have made no substantial progress.

Zhang Yiming, spokesperson of Chinese Embassy in Pakistan, said efforts are ongoing, but did not give more details.

Two Chinese engineers, Wang Ende and Wang Peng, were kid-napped on Saturday by five gunmen near Jandala in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal area bordering Afghanistan.

Abdullah Mahsud, commander of the five kidnappers, refused an appeal by tribal elders to free the two Chinese hostages on Tuesday, according to a report in the Pakistan English newspaper Dawn.

He asserted that he would not conduct any talks unless the government allows the kidnappers to leave their besieged hideout together with the hostages and reach him.

A group of tribal mediators went to Mahsud's native village near Jandola on Tuesday morning to negotiate with him but did not meet him. Some of his own cousins, also sent to meet him, could not find him.

Brigadier Mehmood Shah, chief of security of the tribal region, said elders from Mahsud's tribe telephoned him on Monday and warned him the tribe as a whole would suffer unless he freed the hostages and that he would face tribal justice, Reuters reported.

The kidnappers, witnesses said, contacted their commander over radio and sought instructions.

Mehmood Shah said the government had several options, including the use of force, but was showing restraint for the safety of the hostages, Dawn reported.

Zhang Qiyue, spokeswoman of China's Foreign Ministry, said on Tuesday in Beijing that China has started an emergency mechanism to handle the situation and is in 24-hour contact with the Pakistani Government.

(China Daily 10/14/2004 page2)