Wednesday, October 28, 2009

MILF launches operation to rescue kidnapped Irish priest in southern Philippines

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / October 28, 2009) – Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels helping Philippine authorities track down a kidnapped Irish clergy have mounted an operation Tuesday to rescue the hostage in the hinterlands of Mindanao.

Columban missionary Father Michael Sinnott was taken at gunpoint by pirates October 11 from his home in Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur province and brought to Lanao del Sur.

“We are preparing to rescue Father Sinnott,” said Eid Kabalu, a spokesman for the MILF, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group which is currently negotiating peace with Manila.

Kabalu said they were closely working with the government’s coordinating cease-fire committee in the rescue operation. He said the military’s Western Mindanao Command has approved the operation.

But a regional military commander, Marine Major Benjamin Dolorfino, denied the MILF claims and said it was the crisis management committee headed by Zamboanga del Sur Governor Aurora Cerilles which allowed rebel forces to join the government operation in rescuing the priest.

“It is the crisis management committee which decides what actions to take and the military is only assisting in those decisions,” Dolorfino said.

Dolorfino tagged pirate leader Guingona Samal as behind the kidnapping of the priest. But the police said Sinnott was handed over to an MILF commander Jamat Latip in Lanao del Sur province in central Mindanao.

The MILF has denied the accusations. “It’s not true. We have nothing to do with Sinnott’s kidnapping and Jamat Latip has denied any involvement in the kidnapping,” Kabalu said. “This (operation) is an honest to goodness intention to help secure the freedom of Father Sinnott.”

The secluded chieftain of the MILF, Murad Ebrahim, has ordered rebels to help rescue Sinnott, who had several heart surgeries in the past.

“As a matter of policy, the MILF is obliged to exert its best efforts to help for the safe and immediate recovery of Father Sinnott,” Ebrahim was quoted as saying. “His kidnapping requires all conscience-guided people and those with true faith in God to extend every help for his immediate freedom.”

The rescue operation coincided with reports that Sinnott’s Missionary Society of St. Columban has opened negotiations with the kidnappers for the safe release of the hostage, but details of the talks were unknown.

The Missionary Society of St. Columban has appealed to US President Barack Obama to help secure the safe release of Sinnott, who is the third Irish missioner to be kidnapped in Mindanao since 1997. Fr Des Hartford was held by Moro rebels for 12 days, and in 2001, Fr Rufus Hally, a missioner from Waterford, was shot dead during an attempted abduction in the volatile region. (Mindanao Examiner)

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