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Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Moro rebel group assures sincerity to peace talks
By Al Jacinto
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- The Philippines' largest separatist rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) denied new accusations by the military that it broke a fragile truce and assured Manila it is sincere in the peace talks.
"There is no truth to those accusations. The MILF has not violated the cease-fire and we continue to abide by the provisions of the truce," said Eid Kabalu, a spokesman for the MILF.
Southern Command chief Edilberto Adan said the rebels were recruiting new members in the southern region and have been secretly training in at least 8 provinces and towns.
"We have reports that they continue to recruit and train rebels and this is a serious violation of the cease-fire agreement," Adan said.
He said they have monitored at least 80 training activities in the provinces of Zamboanga Sibugay, Lanao, Maguindanao, Cotabato, and as far as Tawi-Tawi.
"Among those who testified to the MILF activities are local officials and former trainees," he said.
Adan said the MILF also recruited dozens of young men in Zamboanga City. "We even have local officials who told us about the MILF recruitment in Zamboanga," he said.
A senior MILF leader Muhammad Ameen assured Manila that his group is sincere and continue to uphold the primacy of the peace process.
"We are not recruiting or training new members, especially in preparation for war," he said.
"What we are doing now is a validation process of the rank and file of the organization which is normal in any organization like the MILF," added Ameen.
But Ameen has admitted that many Muslims have voluntarily joined the MILF the past years as a consequence of the weakening of the former rebel group, Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), and were attracted by the gains of the ongoing peace talks with the government.
The MNLF signed a peace deal with the government in September 1996, but its leader Nur Misuari, who was disgruntled with the accord, mounted a rebellion in Jolo Island in 2000 and failed, and was arrested and jailed.
Manila opened peace talks with the MILF in 2001 in an effort to end more than three decades of bloody fighting in Mindanao. The MILF split with the MNLF in 1978 to wage its own secessionist war.
Adan has previously accused the MILF of violating the cease-fire agreement and said the recruitment and covert trainings of the rebels have imperiled the talks.
Rebel leaders accused the military is scuttling the peace talks.
Colonel Domingo Tutaan, chief of staff of the Southern Command, said the MILF is using the peace talks to build up its forces.
"We support the peace process, but we cannot allow the rebels to use this to recruit and train and expand their forces in the southern Philippines," he said.
The military earlier warned it would launch a preemptive measure to put a stop to the MILF activities.
Presidential peace adviser Ramon Santos said there were no indications that the MILF violated the truce agreement.
Adan said intelligence reports suggested that as many as 4,000 were recruited and trained by rebel forces.
The trainings, he said, included suicide attack missions, commando and guerrilla tactics and warfare, and weapons and explosives, among others.
Western intelligence previously linked the MILF to the Indonesian Jemaah al-Islamiya group and the al-Qaeda terror network of Usama bin Laden.
Many Arab countries, including the influential Organization of Islamic Conference and Libya, Saudi Arabia and the United States strongly support the peace talks.
President George W. Bush offered as much as $30 million in financial assistance to help develop Mindanao should the MILF seal a peace accord with the Arroyo government. It would be used to help the rebels get back to the mainstream of society.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo previously said that 80 percent of the peace talks have been completed and that peace in Mindanao is within reach.
MILF chieftain Murad Ebrahim has said that his group is sincere in the talks and is willing to end the war in Mindanao.
Peace negotiations between the Philippines and the MILF rebels are expected to resume next month in Malaysia, which is brokering the talks.
(December 28, 2005 issue)
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Soldiers told: Fire your guns and be fired