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| Southeast Asia |
| Filippino military uncovers evidence that MILF isn't so interested in peace talks |
| 2005-12-16 |
| Government negotiators talking peace with the countryâs largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, on Friday briefed senior security leaders on the progress of the negotiations. This was a government effort to calm down a brewing rift between the military and the MILF. The military has accused the MILF of violating a four-year-old truce. It claims to have uncovered secret MILF training courses and massive recruitment in at least 8 provinces and towns in the southern Philippines. The rebel group has strongly denied this. Manilaâs chief peace negotiator Silvestre Afable was in Zamboanga City, where he updated dozens of generals and senior military officials at the Southern Command on the progress of the peace talks with the MILF. Among those in the conference were Generals Edilberto Adan, Gabriel Habacon, Cardozo Luna, Agustin Demaala, Alexander Aleo, Raymundo Ferrer and Nehemias Pajarito. Presidential aide Jesus Dureza also attended the closed-door military conference and told reporters that he would update security officials about current development projects in the south. âI will discuss a lot of things, mostly on the ongoing government development projects and priority programs in the southern Philippines,â said Dureza, who is also the chairman of the Mindanao Development Council. Maj. Gamal Hayudini, Southern Command spokesman, said the meeting was part of an annual security assessment, where military commanders submit their list of accomplishments. âThe presence of Afable and Dureza only coincided with the Southern Command conference, and they briefed the military about the progress of the peace talks and development projects in Mindanao,â Hayudini said. Manila opened peace talks with the MILF in 2001 in an effort to end more than three decades of bloody fighting in Mindanao, but despite a cease-fire, rebel and military forces continue to engage in sporadic armed clashes with both sides accusing each other of violating the fragile truce. The military insist the rebels have broken the cease-fire accord. âWe maintain what we say and we have documents to back our reports about the MILF violations of the cease-fire. They continue to recruit and train rebels in Mindanao,â said Col. Domingo Tutaan, the Southern Command chief of staff. While the military supports the government peace process, it said it would not allow the MILF to use the cease-fire agreements and negotiations to build up its forces. âWe continue to observe and support the primacy of the peace process, but the military also has to perform its mandate for the conduct of internal security,â said Tutaan. Presidential Peace Adviser Ramon Santos said there were no indications that the MILF violated the fragile truce agreement. The MILF has accused the military of scuttling the peace talks now that these are on the final stage. Adan said intelligence reports suggested that as many as 4,000 were recruited and trained by rebel forces in at least eight provinces and towns across Mindanao. The MILF training courses included lesson in suicide attack missions, commando and guerrilla tactics and warfare, and weapons and explosives use among others. Western intelligence has linked the MILF to the Indonesian Jemaah al-Islamiya group and the al-Qaeda terror network of Usama bin Laden. Adan said, âThere had been decentralized and specialized training activities with the purpose of enhancing the military skills of its members and maintaining their war preparedness.â He warned the MILF to stop recruiting civilians and training rebels in the strife-torn region. But he did not say if the military would take action to force the rebels to their activities. âI am warning the MILF that any training activity that is military in nature is considered an offensive action. The Southern Command will not take these violations lightly and will not allow such deceptive strategy to continue,â Adan said. Many Arab countries and organizations, including the influential Organization of Islamic Conference, Libya and Saudi Arabia as well as 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 the moment the MILF seals a peace accord with the Arroyo government. The money would be used to help the rebels reintegrate to the community. President Arroyo has recently claimed that 80 percent of the peace talks has been completed and that peace in Mindanao is within reach. MILF chieftain Murad Ebrahim has said that his group is sincerely pursuing peace in Mindanao. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 The only peace the MILF want is the total removal of the Manila government. |
| Posted by: 49 pan 2005-12-16 14:34 |