MILF Fighting Continue In Maguindanao

COTABATO CITY (Zamboanga Journal / 03 Jul) Sporadic fighting continued Monday between Muslim rebels and paramilitary forces in Maguindanao province in the southern Philippines peace negotiators try, but failed to forge a cease-fire and end the clashes that left dozens of people dead and wounded.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is negotiating peace with Manila, blamed the militias working for Andal Ampatuan, the governor of Maguindanao, as behind the attacks on a major rebel base the Camp Omar in Shariff Aguak town.

"Sporadic clashes continue and militias were attacking us. We are only defending ourselves," said Eid Kabalu, a rebel spokesman.

Murad Ebharim, chieftain of the MILF, has ordered rebel forces on Monday to remain inside their camps and defend only themselves from attacks.” The order of Brother Murad is for the rebels to stay put and defend their positions," Kabalu said.

Kabalu said MILF and government peace negotiators were trying to forge a local truce, but the militias continue their attacks on the rebels. "Local police forces and soldiers failed to disarm the militias and authorities are virtually helpless in restoring peace and order in Maguindanao," he said.

He said military forces deployed in the province also attacked Camp Omar.

"Soldiers sympathetic to Ampatuan shelled the MILF camp many times since last week and we have a filed a protest with the joint cease-fire committees, but military attacks still continue," he said.

Kabalu said more than 40 militias and two rebels were killed in the weeklong clashes in Shariff Aguak, where 5 people had died and 14 others wounded in June 23 bomb attack blamed by the police and military to the MILF. The bomb, security officials said, was intended to assassinate Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan, a charge strongly denied by the MILF.

"The attacks on the MILF are clearly in retaliation to the killings of the 5 people on which the MILF had really no connection," Kabalu said.

Nori Unas, the provincial administrator, said Ampatuan's convoy was passing when the bomb went off near the town's market. Police tagged Jamil Ombra, commander of the MILF’s 105th Base Command in Camp Omar and his deputy Sajid Pakiladato, as behind the roadside bombing in Shariff Aguak.

Police said it was the fourth attempt on Ampatuan's life by the MILF.
Kabalu said thousands of civilians have fled their homes and that the fighting had spread to the towns of Datu Unsay, Mamasapano and Datu Piang, all in Maguindanao.

He said the fighting could affect the peace talks if the militias continue to attack MILF forces.

"The clashes would only stop if militias stop attacking us. We are only defending ourselves," Kabalu said.

President Gloria Arroyo opened peace talks in 2001 with the MILF, the country's largest separatist rebel group fighting for an independent Muslim state in the southern region, in an effort to put an end to more than three decades of fighting in Mindanao.

In February, security and rebel forces clashed for weeks in Shariff Aguak town and left more than a dozen people dead from both sides. The fighting erupted after the MILF opposed a provincial government road construction that rebels claimed would encroach into their territories in the village of Datu Unsay.