Wednesday, September 01, 2004 MILF rebels massing in Isulan: military
MANILA -- Tension was building in Mindanao on Tuesday after a large group of Muslim separatist guerrillas gathered near a military detachment ahead of proposed peace talks, a military official said.
About 200 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas moved into the village of Camanga near the town of Isulan on Mindanao island on Monday, said Brigadier General Alexander Yano, the chief military representative on a joint panel monitoring a 13 month-old ceasefire between the two sides.
The military declined to say what triggered the sudden rebel movement, but it followed an armed clash last week near the town of Mamasapano.
The monitoring teams are meeting to try to defuse the situation ahead of planned peace talks in Malaysia, Yano told reporters.
Talks are ongoing "to avert any further hostilities because we also have troops deployed very near the area," Yano said.
"It's too close for comfort. There could be a shootout."
The military has asked the rebels to leave and has also pledged to pull back its own forces, said Yano. He said the rebels appeared willing to move as early as Tuesday.
He said most of the rebels came from Mamasapano, the scene of the most recent clash between the MILF and government forces last week.
In the same week a second clash occurred near the town of Ampatuan, leaving one soldier and two MILF rebels dead.
The MILF, which has nearly 12,000 armed guerrillas, is the last major Muslim separatist guerrilla group in the southern Philippines.
Manila signed a peace treaty with another faction, the Moro National Liberation Front, in 1996.(AFP)
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