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| Southeast Asia |
| Renewed hostilities feared in Buliok complex |
| 2003-12-28 |
| Fears of hostilities between government troops and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have cropped up as the Armed Forces of the Philippines reportedly repositioned its troops in Buliok complex, the former MILF stronghold in Central Mindanao. Nongovernment organization, led by Bantay Cease-fire, in a report dated December 9 and 10, claimed that the military moved 600 meters toward the canal connected to the Liguasan Marsh in early November this year. The Bantay Cease-fire, which monitors the implementation and observance of the existing cease-fire declared between the government and the MILF on July 19 as part of confidence building prior to the resumption of the peace talks, also reported that newly returned evacuees had spotted armed troops of both sides. âThe proximity between the Marines and the MILF forces can result in a firefight from the slightest provocation or accident,â the Bantay Cease-fire report said. But MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said Friday the military redeployment was simply a return to a status of antebellum prior to the armed hostilities. âThere was no redeployment of the government troops in the strictest sense of the word,â Kabalu said. The military launched air and ground attacks on the Buliok complex in Pagalungan and Pikit towns on February 11 during the Eid ul-Adha, an important Muslim holiday. The attack led to the taking over of the Islamic Center and the Buliok complex by the government troops and the escalation of violence in surrounding areas. Kabalu, meanwhile, denied MILF involvement in the death of three hunters in Zamboanga del Norte. Army Southern Command spokesman Col. Fredesvindo Covarrubias earlier implicated the MILF in the death of the three hunters who were abducted and later killed. The bodies of the three fatalities, who bore hack and bullet wounds, were found on December 22. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #3 Journo-school is *so* expensive nowadays... |
| Posted by: Tony (UK) 2003-12-28 7:52:22 PM |
| #2 the military redeployment was simply a return to a status of antebellum prior to the armed hostilities. Before, before the war? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2003-12-28 7:06:27 PM |
| #1 But MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said Friday the military redeployment was simply a return to a status of antebellum prior to the armed hostilities. This seems to have lost something in translation. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2003-12-28 2:44:50 AM |