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| Southeast Asia |
| Aquino suspects sabotage of peace talks |
| 2013-02-20 |
| The standoff in Sabah has infuriated Philippine President Aquino, who suspects that the incident is intended to sabotage his administration’s peace initiatives with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), reliable sources said yesterday. The well placed sources said Malacañang believes Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III is not acting on his own in highlighting his family’s claim over Sabah. Kiram, the sources noted, is sick and is undergoing dialysis. Among those being considered by administration officials as possible instigators of Kiram are Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) chieftain Nur Misuari, former national security adviser Norberto Gonzales and even the President’s uncle, former Tarlac congressman Jose “Peping” Cojuangco and his wife Margarita, who is running for senator under the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA). Up to 300 of Kiram's followers are holed up in Sabah and have been surrounded by Malaysian security forces. Kiram has said his followers would not leave because “Sabah is our home.” The sources said that the President was furious over the Sabah incident, as it came on the heels of progress achieved in the government’s peace initiative with the MILF. The sources said the standoff in Sabah may also be linked to the recent attacks by an MNLF faction identified with Misuari on Abu Sayyaf strongholds in Jolo, Sulu, ostensibly to secure the release of hostages. Misuari, who is running as an independent candidate for governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in the May elections, points out that the government has not fully implemented the peace agreement signed with the MNLF in 1996. The sources suggested that the standoff in Sabah is seen as a way of derailing the peace process with the MILF. A military official earlier said Kiram’s Royal Sultanate Army began recruiting members over ten years ago. The official, who asked not to be named, said, “In the following years, they never gave the Philippine government any problem until this standoff in Sabah…until they went to Lahad Datu and declared they have the right to stay in Sabah.” The official pointed out that even the reported armed encounter between the MNLF and Abu Sayyaf in Sulu looked like an acoustic war, with no bodies being found despite reports of casualties on both sides. |
| Posted by:ryuge |