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Filipino Regime Targets Oil-rich Mindanao : Report
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"Such actions bolsters the argument that the MILF is not a political organization," said Arroyo.
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Additional
Reporting by Kazi Mahmood, IOL Philippines Correspondent
KUALA
LUMPUR, March 11 (IslamOnline.net) - The Filipino government is trying
to have control of resources of the southern Muslim island of Mindanao
and is considering enlisting the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)
as a “terrorist organization” for that purpose, according to a
report Tuesday, March 11.
News
sources complementing the report, by local Non-Governmental
Organizations (NGO) linked to the Bangsamoro people, added that the
government is also using the Abu Sayyaf kidnap group to cover for
attacks against Muslim groups in several areas of Mindanao, including
MILF-held territories.
The12,000-strong
movement, fully armed and trained in specific warfare with government
forces, has been the target of accusations by both Manila and
Singapore, linking it to the Jemaah Islamiya (JI) and Osama bin
Laden's al-Qaeda groups.
Both
groups are allegedly terrorist organizations sowing chaos around the
world while the MILF is being tagged as the group that offered both
the JI and Al-Qaeda military training in Mindanao.
The
report indicated that the Filipino government will not relinquish
possession of the Muslim regions to the MILF due to its economic
potential.
Mindanao,
the MILF says, has oil reserves and other resources that would be
sufficient to rebuild the region and give the Muslims a chance to live
a better life after years of struggle and killings.
MILF
leader Haschim Salamat has already prepared a report sent to the
Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) indicating the needs for the
region to develop its resources. Salamat said to IOL in an earlier
interview the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and other
Muslim nations were ready to assist the MILF in its endeavor to
develop the region.
Meanwhile,
President Gloria Arroyo’s government is said to have seriously
considered putting the MILF on its list of terror organizations after
it suspected the Islamic group was involved in last week’s Davao
City airport bombing, Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes said on Monday,
March 10, 2003 as reported by the Philippines Star newspaper in
Manila.
Reyes
admitted that a terrorist tag could jeopardize peace initiatives
involving the MILF. He added that the government has yet to declare
the group a terrorist organization.
"We
have not done that yet and we are studying it. This is because we know
that definitely it will have repercussions on the peace talks."
He said.
Arroyo,
speaking separately Monday, said the recent actions by the MILF made
them appear to be a terrorist organization.
"I
am calling on the MILF leadership to stop such attacks and harassments
against individuals.
"Such
actions, including the sabotage of transmission lines, only bolsters
the argument made by more and more people that the MILF is not a
political organization but a terrorist group," Arroyo said.
The
Philippines does not have an anti-terrorism law and moves to enact
such legislation have been stalled by the definition of terrorism
itself.
"While
everybody is debating the precise definition of terrorism, the common
thread is that the target is civilians. So, I am asking them to stop
attacking and harassing civilians," Arroyo said.
Last
week, suspected MILF fighters allegedly killed 21 people and wounded
more than 150 in a bomb blast at the Davao International Airport. It
was the nation’s worst terrorist attack since the Rizal Day 2000
bombings in five separate places in Metro Manila.
Reyes
said that despite the MILF’s alleged role in the airport attack, the
government did not want to shut the door to a settlement to the
long-running Muslim insurgency.
The
government has already filed multiple murder charges against Salamat
and other top leaders after investigations revealed that a group
member allegedly triggered the bomb explosion at the waiting lounge
outside the Davao airport terminal last Tuesday.
MILF
military chief Al Haj Murad, political chief Ghadzali Jaafar and
spokesman Eid Kabalu were among those charged.
The
MILF had denied any role in the airport terrorist attack. It had
earlier said the murder charges dimmed the prospect of resuming peace
talks with Arroyo’s administration. The talks have been suspended
for two years.
The
MILF has been waging a 25-year-old campaign to set up an Islamic state
in Mindanao, the southern third of the predominantly Roman Catholic
Philippines.
In
1996, the government signed a peace deal with the Moro National
Liberation Front (MNLF), from which Salamat broke off and formed the
MILF.
NGO
sources in the region say they suspect the government is using the Abu
Sayyaf to carry out bombings and create an atmosphere of eternal
conflict in the region.
The
government and the MILF signed a shaky ceasefire pact in Kuala Lumpur
in 2001 but it was shattered last month after the military launched a
major offensive at an MILF camp in the town of Pikit in North Cotabato
province, allegedly used as a shelter for terrorists, kidnappers and
bandit groups.
The
MILF rejected the government claim that it had harbored criminal
groups and insisted that the real objective of the offensive was to
oust the MILF from the area and capture its top leaders.
Some
200 people, mostly MILF fighters, died in the offensive which led to a
declaration of an all-out war by Salamat. More than 100,000 people
have been displaced during the Pikit invasion by the military.
But
the Filipino President is to seek Malaysia's help to bring Filipino
Muslim fighters to the negotiating table and end escalating violence
in the southern Philippines, sources said Tuesday.
"The
president will dispatch a special envoy tomorrow to meet with the
acting Malaysian prime minister in a new bid to help end this
bloodshed," a highly-placed source told Agence France-Presse
(AFP).
Malaysian
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who is on leave, reportedly gave
Arroyo an "open-ended" offer during their talks last month
for Kuala Lumpur to host any peace talks between Manila and the MILF,
the biggest Filipino Muslim separatist group.
Predominantly-Muslim
Malaysia has been acting only as a facilitator in the negotiations so
far.
Aside
from Malaysia, Libya is also involved in talks to lure the MILF to the
peace table.
In
a related development, Philippine Foreign Secretary Blas Ople has
called for a meeting with Manila-based ambassadors of the OIC member
nations on Thursday, March 13, diplomats said. The objective of the
meeting was not immediately available.
But
a panel of envoys from OIC has put off a visit to the southern
Philippines due to an escalation of violence there, diplomats said
Tuesday.
The
OIC team was scheduled to visit the troubled region on March 18-21 to
look into the implementation of a 1996 peace agreement between the
government and the MNLF.
The
centerpiece of the pact was the creation of a Muslim autonomous region
in the southern island of Mindanao called Autonomous Region of Muslim
Mindanao (ARMM).
"We
postponed the visit to May because of the state of security there at
present," a diplomat said, citing the Davao airport blast which
killed 21 people and injured more than 150 others as well as a series
of bombings blamed on the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Efforts
are underway to bring the MILF into peace talks with the government
after a ceasefire agreement was shattered by intense fighting between
the two sides in recent weeks.
The
Philippine government has maintained it has lived up to the provisions
of the 1996 peace pact and is eyeing an observer seat in the OIC.
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