REBELS WON'T BE TURNED OVER TO PHILIPPINES GOV'T
SULTAN KUDARAT, Philippines – The leader of the Muslim insurgency in the southern Philippines said Saturday he would not turn over two of his commanders to authorities despite bloody attacks they launched last year.
- However, Murad Ibrahim, chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said his group was still keen on peace talks with Manila.
- Speaking at a MILF camp outside the city of Cotabato, Ibrahim said the group would not give in to demands they turn over Ameril Umbrakato and Abdulrahman Macapaar who are blamed for attacks in Mindanao island in August, 2008.
- "There is no way we can surrender them. The government has made the case against them but we don't recognise that case," he told AFP.
- He said there should be an investigation of the incidents by a third party and if the two are found to have violated certain laws "then we have to sanction them based on our own laws."
- He warned that "trust and confidence was completely shattered," after the Supreme Court last year junked a draft agreement with the MILF due to a widespread outcry from Christian communities.
- The court's move sparked the attacks by Umbrakato and Macapaar against mostly-Christian towns in Mindanao that left scores dead and over half a million displaced.
- The attacks broke a five-year ceasefire between the government and the MILF and halted the peace talks.
- The government put a half a million-peso (104,000-dollar) reward on each of the commanders' heads and demanded that the MILF turn them over if they wanted the peace talks to proceed.
- However Manila later softened this stance and on Wednesday signed an agreement allowing international peace brokers to be involved in negotiations aimed at ending the decades-old uprising.
- Despite the violence, Ibrahim said he was committed to finding a peaceful solution to the problem but called on the government to show "political will".
- The 12,000-member MILF has been waging a separatist rebellion since 1978 to carve out an Islamic state in the southern part of the largely Catholic Philippines.
CLASHES ERUPT IN SOUTH PHILIPPINES
Heavy fighting in the southern Philippines has left 13 Muslim fighters dead and wounded dozens more, an army spokesman has said.
Five soldiers were also hurt in the clashes on Friday when troops fought members of a breakaway faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) near Guindulungan town in Maguindanao province.
Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Ponce said: "Our artillery fire scored direct hits, killing 13 rebels."
He said helicopters and warplanes had been sent to provide air support to ground troops.
"Dozens of rebels were also wounded. Our troops are now pursuing the remnants," he added.
The army launched an offensive against guerrillas from the breakaway separatist group last August when they went on the rampage after peace negotiations between the government and the MILF collapsed.
Fighting across oil and gas-rich marshlands and nearby hills on the southern island of Mindanao has escalated in the past six weeks and displaced more than 50,000 families, pushing back prospects for the resumption of peace talks.
Nearly 600 people have been killed since August 2008, many of them civilians caught up in the fighting.
About 2,000 houses in Maguindanao province have been set on fire.
Courtesy: Al Jazeera
Five soldiers were also hurt in the clashes on Friday when troops fought members of a breakaway faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) near Guindulungan town in Maguindanao province.
Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Ponce said: "Our artillery fire scored direct hits, killing 13 rebels."
He said helicopters and warplanes had been sent to provide air support to ground troops.
"Dozens of rebels were also wounded. Our troops are now pursuing the remnants," he added.
The army launched an offensive against guerrillas from the breakaway separatist group last August when they went on the rampage after peace negotiations between the government and the MILF collapsed.
Fighting across oil and gas-rich marshlands and nearby hills on the southern island of Mindanao has escalated in the past six weeks and displaced more than 50,000 families, pushing back prospects for the resumption of peace talks.
Nearly 600 people have been killed since August 2008, many of them civilians caught up in the fighting.
About 2,000 houses in Maguindanao province have been set on fire.
Courtesy: Al Jazeera
VISITORS GEOFLAGS SINCE AUGUST 26, 2009
