| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| State witness bares MNLF, MILF links with Abu Sayyaf |
| 2005-03-31 |
| The Abu Sayyaf connived with members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front to plant bombs, kidnap people and commit murder, The Manila Times learned from Roland Ullah, a witness to the Sipadan hostage crisis, and former Abu Sayyaf member-turned state witness Omar Pael. Ullah told The Times in an exclusive interview that he discovered many conspiracies between the three groups while he was a hostage of the Abu Sayyaf for three years. He said the three organizations tap their fighters as mercenaries and even combine forces occasionally to attack government troops. They cooperate getting their fighters trained under a suspected Jemaah Islamiyah militant, Abu Saki, alias "Jackie." Ullah saw and heard the Abu Sayyaf leader, Radulan Sahiron, talk with MILF chair Al Haj Murad through a satellite phone provided by Murad. Ullah, who is now under the Witness Protection Program of the Department of Justice, said the Abu Sayyaf hires MILF and MNLF fighters for P50,000. He believed that MILF and MNLF officers get paid higher when they act as mercenaries for the Abu Sayyaf. "Naghihiraman din ng mga tao ang mga Abu Sayyaf, MNLF at MILF. Minsan nga ang MILF ang magtatanim ng bomba sa kalye laban sa mga sundalo at ang Abu Sayyaf ang raratrat at papatay sa mga tinamaan ng bomba [The Abu Sayyaf, MNLF and MILF share fighters. Sometimes the MILF would plant a roadside bomb against soldiers and the Abu Sayyaf would shoot the soldiers wounded in the blast]," Ullah told The Times. Pael told The Times that he took part in the kidnapping on April 23, 2000, on Sipadan Island in Semporna, Malaysia. Nineteen foreigners and two Filipinos were abducted there, he said. Pael was also involved in kidnapping several people at the Dos Palmas resort in Palawan. He was a soldier of Murad. But an MILF official, Pael said, asked him to go to Basilan and serve Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani. He said the Abu Sayyaf's ties with the MILF and the MNLF were so strong, the Abu Sayyaf can ask either group for assistance when the Abu Sayyaf is being pressed by the military. The MILF and the MNLF, he added, also provide sanctuary for Abu Sayyaf members when the need arises. Pael said he became disgusted with the Abu Sayyaf after he was assigned to serve under Abu Sabaya, whom he described as barat [a cheapskate] for limiting his allowance to P1,000 a week and rations to mainly noodles. "I surrendered because I cannot take the training anymore. The training was very hard," he added. The MNLF is based in Jolo, Sulu; the MILF is based in Cotabato and Basilan. The Abu Sayyaf operates today in Jolo, Zamboanga and Tawi-Tawi. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |