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| Southeast Asia | ||||||
| Government negotiator warns of MILF power struggle | ||||||
| 2003-12-13 | ||||||
| Well, Kabalu’s denying it so we know that it has to be true ... A POWER struggle in the Philippines’ top Muslim separatist group between pragmatists and hardliners accused of supporting foreign "terrorists" could hamper peace talks with the government, Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Thursday. Oh goody, pragmatists and hardliners, that just sounds so Iranian for the Philippines ... Neighboring Malaysia is preparing to host formal talks between Manila and the 11,900-member Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) early next month. Meanwhile, MILF and their new buddies in the NPA are still shooting away ... Manila is pushing for a political settlement to the MILF’s 25-year rebellion before the May 2004 presidential election. That may explain Arroyo’s willingness to overlook the more blatant violations of the cease-fire in addition to the coup ... A deal would lead to the release of millions of dollars’ worth of development aid pledged by the United States and other countries to the southern Mindanao region.
Gee, what gave you the hint?
And the big-shots have done nothing to stop them and are still cashing checks from Hanbali ... "Most of the factions that do not believe in the continuance of the negotiations on the ground, who still think that they can achieve their objective - these are the people who encourage the presence of the JI on the ground," Ermita said. The foreign militants are training locals, possibly including MILF members, in explosives and avoiding detection, he added. I would say especially including MILF members, myself ... Technical equipment, including unmanned planes provided by the United States as part of military aid to combat terrorism, have been "very effective" in tracking their activities, Ermita said without elaborating. Yet the camps are still running ... A suspected senior JI operative, Taufek Refke, was arrested in Mindanao in October. And running a nasty biowarfare lab, by all accounts. Yet another good reason to blow the camps to kingdom come ... The "more practical" MILF leaders, including chief Murad Ebrahim, have realized they could not hope to defeat the Philippine government on the battlefield, Ermita said. However, "there are ranking people in the (MILF) central committee who have second thoughts about actual negotiations," he said. Like the guys with all the guns ...
All signs point to no ...
They’re still getting to that, it seems ... At an emergency meeting of ceasefire monitors last week, Manila exacted a written commitment from the MILF that it would deny the JI sanctuary and help the government identify and even arrest JI members. So now they’re violating a written rather than a verbal agreement ... The two sides agreed a largely successful ceasefire in July, and an advance team of ceasefire observers from the Malaysian armed forces is set to fly into Mindanao on Monday ahead of the peace talks. Most "successful cease-fires" don’t continue to have people getting shot ... Manila is offering the MILF a measure of self-rule, in a deal similar to one that led to another separatist group, the Moro National Liberation Front, signing a peace treaty in 1996.
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| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 I am beginning to think its time for a little demostration of 'Shock and Awe' down there. Drop a few daisycutters on the camps and we (and the Philippine Government) will be in a much better position to talk peace terms. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2003-12-13 11:20:22 AM |