JOLO ISLAND (Mindanao Examiner / 19 Apr) – The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) on Thursday accused the Philippine military of starting hostilities in the southern island of Jolo that left at least two dozen people dead and over 100 wounded.
The fighting, which began April 13, have displaced some 42,000 civilians in seven towns in Jolo, about 950 km south of Manila. The military said the MNLF rebels are coddling Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya terrorists on the island.
“It was them who started the fight. The military attacked our forces and killed our members in the guise of pursuing the Abu Sayyaf and later tell us that the killings are a mistake and so on.”
“We cannot tolerate this abuse anymore. Our members are asking us what is happening and we cannot tolerate this violation of the peace agreement anymore. We wanted peace, but it appears the military does not want peace at all,” an MNLF leader, Habier Malik, said.
Security officials said rebel forces attacked several military posts in Panamao town and that one of the mortars exploded near a government building, killing a child and wounding another villager. But the military said there could be more civilian casualties.
Two marine soldiers were also killed and eight more wounded many seriously, when rebels attacked their post in the village of Tayungan with mortar bombs last week.
Army Major Eugene Batara, a regional military spokesman, said Malik’s group fired mortar bombs on the headquarters of the Philippine Marines in the village of Seit also last week.
The MNLF rebels, under its chieftain Nur Misuari, 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 MNLF members 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)
It is just for political purpose. There will be another peace talks. So, they are acting tough.
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