MNLF Fighting Breaks Out In Jolo Island, 6 Soldiers Dead, Says Rebels

JOLO ISLAND (Mindanao Examiner / 25 Feb) – At least one government soldier was seriously wounded in fierce clashes Sunday with Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) forces in the southern Philippine island of Jolo, officials said.

Rebel sources said at least six soldiers were killing in the fighting.

Officials said troops, pursuing Abu Sayyaf militants, clashed with rebels late Sunday afternoon in the hinterland village of Marang in Indanan town. Fighting was raging later in the night with soldiers trying to get out from an area where rebels, under Habier Malik and Khaid Ajibun, are actively operating.

There were no immediate reports of MNLF casualties. “One soldier is wounded in the fighting,” said Marine commander Maj. Gen. Mohammad Dolorfino, who was monitoring the situation in Jolo.

“There is a need to put up a coordinating committee between the MNLF and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to prevent hostilities. There is truce and we signed a peace agreement with the rebels, but sporadic clashes still occur. We have worked a long way to preserve peace in the South and we will pursue peaceful ways to resolve this problem,” Dolorfino told the Mindanao Examiner.

Hundreds of Muslim villagers have fled their homes, leaving farm animals behind, for fear the battle would escalate. The military on the island have sent more forces to reinforce the beleaguered soldiers.

Early this month, Malik and Ajibun held for 3 days a peace mission headed by Dolorfino and Defense Under Secretary Ramon Santos and demanded that Manila free their jailed leader Nur Misuari, who is facing rebellion charges, so he can attend a tripartite meeting arranged by the influential Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) in Saudi Arabia.

Dolorfino’s group was seized after reports of a scheduled tripartite meeting between the MNLF and the Philippines and the OIC on Feb. 6-8 in Jeddah had been shelved off by the Arroyo government. The OIC, which brokered the MNLF peace talks, organized the tripartite meeting to discuss the full implementation of the agreement.

The rebels signed a peace agreement with Manila in September 1996. After the peace agreement was signed, Misuari, became the governor of the Muslim autonomous region. But despite the agreement, there was a widespread disillusionment with the weak autonomy they were granted.

Under the peace agreement, Manila would provide a mini-Marshal Plan to spur economic development in Muslim areas in the south and livelihood and housing assistance to tens of thousands of former rebels to uplift their poor living standards.

Many former guerrillas were disgruntled with the peace deal, saying, the Arroyo government failed to comply with some of its provisions and uplift their standards of living. They accused Manila of failing to develop the war-torn areas in the south.

And in November 2001, on the eve of the elections in the Muslim autonomous region, Misuari accused the government of reneging on the peace agreement, and launched a new rebellion in Jolo island and Zamboanga City, where more than 100 people were killed. Misuari then escaped by boat to Malaysia, but had been arrested and deported to the Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)