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US-trained soldiers deployed to Jolo
SOUTHERN Command Chief Lt. General Alberto Braganza finally deployed some 40 US-trained soldiers to Jolo Friday as fighting with the combined forces of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) breakaway group and Abu Sayyaf entered on its sixth day. The soldiers were members of the elite Light Reaction Company (LRC), which has been trained by US trainors to fight terrorism in the country. Meanwhile, the prospect of negotiating a ceasefire agreement with the government appears slim after the military suffered heavy casualties, including an army lieutenant colonel and a marine lieutenant. Certain concerned Muslim sector members who wanted to broker peace in Sulu admitted this Friday. Amina Rasul, the leader of the Philippine Council on Islamic Democracy (PCID), said there is a need for the top leaders of the National Government and the MNLF to intercede to resolve the on-going conflict in the province. She even mentioned the need to tap incarcerated Nur Misuari, still recognized by the renegade MNLF breakaway forces as their true leader, as the best possible solution to end the peace crisis in Sulu. "There was a positive feedback for the military and the Misuari Break-away Forces (MBF) to talk for (a possible ceasefire), but yesterday (Friday), the military changed their mind because of the killing of Lt. Col. Villanueva. It was really a big disappointment for all of us," Rasul revealed in a press conference Friday, at Garden Orchid Hotel (GOH) in Zamboanga City.
 The military also reported the death of rebel Commander Basir Bashiri in the Sulu fighting whose group based in Pilas Island, Lantawan, Basilan, reinforced their beleaguered combatants in the war-torn Sulu archipelago. His body, however, was not recovered as his followers reportedly brought his cadaver back to the native island of Pilas for immediate burial. But a former MNLF official, however, said Bashiri was only wounded in the clash and did not perish. Braganza claimed the rebels have now decreased in number from their initial strength of 500 to only about 200 or 300 in the five-day continuous fighting. But the military is checking reports that the rebels are recruiting new members into their group, enticing them of juicy offers, including jobs by the time Misuari will be freed from his prison camp in Taguig, Rizal.
Posted by: Seafarious 2005-02-13 |
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