MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 21, 2008) – Philippine Muslim rebels clashed Tuesday with government forces in the restive region of Mindanao, where sporadic fighting had killed and wounded hundred of people in recent months.
One soldier was reportedly wounded in a series of fighting that erupted in the town of Mamasapano in Maguindanao, one of six provinces under the Muslim autonomous region.
There were no immediate reports of MILF casualties, but thousands of troops were pursuing rebels under Ameril Kato, Abdullah Macapaar and Sulayman Pangalian, blamed for leading deadly attacks in August on civilian targets in North Cotabato, Lanao del Norte and Sarangani provinces which eventually spread to other areas in Mindanao.
The clashes broke out a day after Macapaar surfaced from hiding and vowed to continue hostilities until the Arroyo government honor its commitment to the MILF, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group fighting for self-determination the past three decades.
Macapaar was referring to the aborted signing August 5 of the territorial deal between Manila and the MILF after the Supreme Court ruled the Memorandum of Agreement on the Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) was unconstitutional.
The deal would have granted more than four million Muslims their own homeland across more 700 villages in Mindanao.
One soldier was reportedly wounded in a series of fighting that erupted in the town of Mamasapano in Maguindanao, one of six provinces under the Muslim autonomous region.
There were no immediate reports of MILF casualties, but thousands of troops were pursuing rebels under Ameril Kato, Abdullah Macapaar and Sulayman Pangalian, blamed for leading deadly attacks in August on civilian targets in North Cotabato, Lanao del Norte and Sarangani provinces which eventually spread to other areas in Mindanao.
The clashes broke out a day after Macapaar surfaced from hiding and vowed to continue hostilities until the Arroyo government honor its commitment to the MILF, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group fighting for self-determination the past three decades.
Macapaar was referring to the aborted signing August 5 of the territorial deal between Manila and the MILF after the Supreme Court ruled the Memorandum of Agreement on the Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) was unconstitutional.
The deal would have granted more than four million Muslims their own homeland across more 700 villages in Mindanao.
“We want to have peace in Mindanao. It is good that the MOA-AD was not signed because now we want independence for the Bangsamoro people in Mindanao. We are willing to risk our lives until we achieve peace and Islamic justice in Mindanao,” Macapaar said in a clandestine interview by ABS-CBN television.
He accused President Arroyo of reneging on the peace agreement. He warned that rebels will resort to aggression until Manila cedes control of Mindanao to the Bangsamoro people.
Bangsamoro refers to Muslim inhabitants of Mindanao.
Manila has put up a P10 million bounties each for the capture of Macapaar, Kato and Pangalian and Arroyo demanded the MILF to surrender the trio. She also pulled out from the peace talks with the MILF and disbanded the government team negotiating with rebels and scrapped the MOA-AD. (Mindanao Examiner)
No comments:
Post a Comment