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Sunday, August 24, 2008
MILF chief: Peace talks could collapse
CAMP DARAPANAN -- Moro rebels urged the government Saturday to halt a military offensive that they say threatens the collapse of a years-long peace process and an escalation of violence in the archipelago's troubled south.
The military has launched ground and air attacks on rebel positions in response to a guerrilla rampage Monday that left 37 people shot or hacked to death in several villages.
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Al-Haj Murad, chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), told a news conference at a rebel base near southern Cotabato City that the military has started indiscriminate attacks while pursuing rebel commanders blamed for leading the rampage.
Civilian death and injury were reported during the biggest artillery and air strikes launched by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Central Mindanao in nearly a decade.
The MILF said that a nine-year-old child died in night-long shelling of government forces in Maguindanao and Midsayap.
Homidi Abdurrahman was killed as a result of "indiscriminate shelling" by government forces on two barangays -- Pagatin in Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao and Sambulawan in Midsayap, North Cotabato.
Seriously injured was Samera Abdurrahman, the MILF added.
The two barangays are near each other even if they are situated in two separate provinces. They are only separated by the Rio Grande de Mindanao.
Air strikes
The AFP reportedly used some 30 aircrafts, including OV-Bronco bomber planes, MG-520 rocket-firing attack helicopters, and a pair of Italian-made S-211 jets from as far as Basa Air Base in Pampanga in the air strikes.
It was learned that Friday's strike was bigger, in terms of assets and area covered than the 2000 Abubakar siege.
Reports showed that the air strikes delivered a total of 25 bombs and 12 rockets on six targets around Shariff Aguak. They included a dozen 500-lb bombs, nine 260-pounders and four 110-pounders.
AFP vice chief of staff Lieutenant General Cardoso Luna earlier said he does not want any collateral damage in their hot pursuit operation against renegade MILF commanders Ameril Umbra Kato and Abdulla Macapaar, who were held responsible for Monday's carnage.
The rebels have said that they regret a recent upsurge in violence and that the commanders responsible acted on their own.
Murad said peace talks should resume, but he repeated earlier rejections of a government demand that the rebel commanders who led the attacks be turned over to face the criminal justice system.
"We cannot subject our members to the laws of the government," Murad said. "We are a revolutionary force."
Government's demand
Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, however, repeated the government's demand. He accused rebel leaders of engaging in "extortion ...intransigence and arrogance" in their statements since the rampage when they should be showing "good faith to try to stop the conflict from escalating" by turning over the commanders.
"The law of the Republic of the Philippines should prevail ...and it will be under the law that we will prosecute them and judge them," Teodoro told reporters Saturday in Manila.
"We hope the (rebels are) reasonable enough to see that it does them no good to coddle these criminals," he added.
Murad said a deadline of sorts looms because the truce group's mandate is set to expire August 31.
The MILF chief suggested that the correct forum to deal with the rebel commanders should be a ceasefire committee involving the government, the rebels, and an international truce motoring group led by Malaysia.
On Saturday, Murad said he asked Malaysia to revive stalled peace talks with the government to end weeks of brutal fighting.
But he added that his group still reserved the right to resume its large-scale rebellion if the peace process collapses.
"War is among the options. It is part of the struggle. The MILF is determined to continue that struggle," said Murad in a meeting with reporters at a MILF camp near this town in the southern Philippines.
Murad said he sent a request two days ago to Malaysia, which has been hosting peace negotiations between the Philippines and the MILF.
However, Kuala Lumpur was yet to respond to Murad's call.
Satellite camps
Several rebel "satellite" camps have been overrun, some with foxholes and trenches, according to Brigadier Jorge Segovia, the military spokesman on the conflict.
He urged guerrillas not affiliated with the commanders responsible for Monday's carnage to get out of the way of the military's pursuit, with troops narrowing their cordon of the area.
"While there has been resistance, the groups there have been running around because wherever they withdraw, they bump into some of our battalions," he said. "We will run after them wherever it takes us."
Police said they have filed preliminary charges, including murder, attempted murder, robbery and arson, against 90 rebels, including the two commanders blamed for instigating Monday's violence.
Local political leaders in the south have started arming civilians to protect against rebel attacks, a dangerous development that could further escalate violence.
Just weeks ago, a peace deal to end the decades-long insurgency had seemed within reach after government and rebel negotiators initialed an agreement on an expanded autonomous region.
But local politicians in areas that would be affected challenged the deal in the Supreme Court (SC), triggering the attacks by the rebels.
Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera told the SC on Wednesday that "circumstances have changed" after the recent attacks and the government will no longer sign the agreement.
Murad rejected any review of the agreement.
"It's a done deal," he said. "If the government will not change its position, there's a possibility that the peace talks will collapse." (AP/With BOT of Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Zamboanga. (August 24, 2008 issue)
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