U.S. soldiers are to begin a joint military drill with Philippines troops in Jolo and Mindanao islands in Southern Philippines. The country's largest Muslim rebel group, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, on Friday 16 Feb 2007 says Washington is seeking its help to help capture Jemaah Islamiya bombers Dumatin and Umar Patek and Filipino terrorists with links to al-Qaeda. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)MAGUINDANAO (Mindanao Examiner / 16 Feb) – A group of senior U.S. officials held a secret meeting with the Philippines’ largest Muslim rebel group and sought help to capture Indonesian and Filipino militants with links to al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya terror network, a rebel spokesman said Friday.
The meeting took place inside a rebel base of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Shariff Kabunsuan on Mindanao island, a hot bed of insurgency in the southern Philippines.
A rebel spokesman, Eid Kabalu, said the meeting on Thursday was centered on the hunt for Jemaah Islamiya militants Dulmatin and Umar Patek, tagged as behind the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people, including 88 Australian holiday-makers.
And for the capture of Filipino militant Abdulbasit Usman, blamed for the spate of bombings in Mindanao and linked by Philippine authorities to the Jemaah Islamiya and al-Qaeda. Usman has a 50,000 dollar bounty on his head for his arrest.
Kabalu said U.S. Chargé d' affaires Paul Jones and U.S. Army Col. David Maxwell, commander of the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines, led the group in meeting MILF deputy chief, Ghazali Jaafar. The meeting was long, he said.
“They came to us and sought our help to capture the terrorists. The MILF signed an accord with the Philippine government and rebel forces are helping authorities hunt down these criminals through the ad-hoc joint action group.”
“As a matter of fact, the MILF, through the ad-hoc joint action group, provided vital intelligence about terrorists. The MILF is fighting these criminals because we are also affected by their activities,” Kabalu told the Mindanao Examiner.
He did not identify other U.S. officials who accompanied Jones.
But other rebel sources said aside from Jones and Maxwell, Jon Lindborg, mission director of the U.S. Agency for International Development and Col. Bruce West, U.S. Embassy Defense Attaché' and Paul Kennedy, a regional security officer, were also in the meeting.
Philippine security officials said Abu Sayyaf militants tied to al-Qaeda were coddling Dulmatin and Patek in Jolo island in the Sulu Archipelago, about 950 km south of Manila.
And Usman is hiding in Maguindanao province, a stronghold of the MILF on Mindanao island.
The Adnkronos International on Friday also reported about how the U.S. officials secretly met with the MILF and asked for help in the hunt for Dulmatin and Patek.
It quoted Jaafar as saying: "They want us to help by providing vital information that will lead to the arrest of the two terrorists. I said we could help them because we are also against the two. We are always affected by their activities."
"They asked also about the whereabouts of Abdul Basit Usman. We told them that he never became a member of our organization ever since," Jaafar added.
Washington offered as much as $10 million bounty for the capture of Dulmatin and $1 million for Patek's head. The MILF renounced any link with terrorist organizations in 2003 when its late leader, Salamat Hashim, asked Washington to get involved in the peace talks with Manila.
Regarding the peace talks, Jaafar said Washington reiterated its concern for the current problems encountered.
Manila began peace negotiations with the MILF in 2001, but no major accord has been signed by both sides, except for a cease-fire agreement. And many rebels are slowly losing their patience on the five-year old peace talks.
Peace talks ended in September last year in Malaysia with both sides failing to sign any agreement on the most contentious issue -- ancestral domain -- which refers to the MILF demand for territory that will constitute a Muslim homeland.
It is the single most important issue in the peace negotiations before the rebel group can reach a political settlement.
Malaysia, an influential member of the Organization of Islamic Conference, is brokering the peace talks.
"They are concerned with peace process. They want to help and strengthen their peace initiatives in Mindanao," Jaafar said.
A day before Jone's visit to the MILF camp, a six-man delegation from European Union led by Alistar MacDonald, Ambassador of the European Community to the Philippines, also met rebel leaders in the same venue.
"They reiterated their commitment to help and resolve the problem in Mindanao through the negotiations. We welcomed their concern because you know we really want an end to the problem," Jaafar said.
MILF chieftain Murad Ebrahim previously warned that Manila should be blamed if the peace talks fail. He said the talks are now passing “a turbulent area” and that the Filipino government must take responsibility for the breakdown of the negotiations.
“This signals that we are now on the danger zone of the peace talks,” Ebrahim said.
The MILF has rejected Manila's offer for a limited autonomy in the mineral-rich, but restive Mindanao island, home to about 4 million Muslims who want a separate Islamic state. (Mindanao Examiner)
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