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MILF in the middle of a recruiting drive
Increasing disillusionment with goverment peace treaties has helped raise the ranks of the 11,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front in western Mindanao, MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said Friday.Kabalu denied that there was a recruitment drive to beef up MILF troops, adding that the new recruits voluntarily approached Moro field commanders to join the MILF. "What happened here in western Mindanao, in the former territory of the (Moro National Liberation Front), is that a lot of people approached us because they are losing hope in the GRP-MNLF peace agreement. That is not being discussed any more so they are looking for a solution," Kabalu told DZMM. He added: "They are approaching us because they believe that the MILF is continuing their fight." He said the MILF regularly consults community leaders in former rebel strongholds in Tawi-Tawi and Basilan. Kabalu said the MILF was conducting an "information drive" to raise awareness of the peace talks, which the military could have mistaken for recruitment. He added that recruitment of new fighters is not prohibited in the cease-fire agreement between the government and the MILF. Southern Command chief, Lt. Gen. Edilberto Adan, earlier accused the MILF of secretly training recruits to carry out suicide attacks. The training, he said, puts in doubt the MILF sincerity in the peace talks. Adan said intelligence reports suggested that as many as 4,000 were recruited and trained by rebel forces in at least eight provinces and towns across Mindanao. The training included indoctrination with suicide-attack missions, commando and guerrilla tactics and warfare, and weapons and marksmanship and explosives, he said. Western intelligence had previously linked the MILF to the Jemaah Islamiyah group and the al-Qaeda terror network of Osama bin Laden. Townspeople in Tungawan near Zamboanga City told the military that they saw armed MILF rebels training recruits in the hinterlands. Zamboanga City officials also said the MILF was recruiting young men in the Muslim enclave of Taluksangay. An unidentified van driver in Zamboanga City also told police that he drove a big group of MILF recruits from Basilan, Jolo, and Tawi-Tawi last week to the province of Zamboanga Sibugay. Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-12-23 |
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