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| Southeast Asia |
| Philippines: 'No ceasefire during Christmas', says MILF |
| 2008-12-10 |
| (AKI) - One of the leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Philippines's largest Islamic rebel organisation, said that his group is not keen on a ceasefire to celebrate Christmas. MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said that the MILF is not opposed to the government stopping hostilities in December, but did not forget that Manila refused to call a ceasefire during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month. "So if they declare a ceasefire now, Muslims will take it as a sign this government values December more than Ramadan," Iqbal said in an interview on dzXL radio. Iqbal however reiterated that the MILF is observing a ceasefire and accused the military of attacking. "We don't need to declare a ceasefire. It is the government that needs to declare one because it is doing the attacking," he said. Fighting between the MILF and the military intensified since August, after a proposed peace agreement between the two warring parties was halted by the Supreme Court on he ground of unconstitutionality. Hundreds have been killed since and over 600,000 people were forced to flee their homes. Many remain in squalid evacuation camps, aid agencies and social workers said. In the last few days, the fighting has been particularly fierce in island of Basilan, Sulu Archipelago, where at least 55 people were killed in two days, the military said. Five soldiers were among the dead. Marine commandant Major Gen. Ben Dolorfino--himself a Muslim--said that the military are fighting against a combined force that includes terrorists of the Abu Sayyaf Group, lawless elements of the MILF, and small kidnap-for-ransom groups. "The military has deliberately attacked the MILF under the guise of pursuing the Abu Sayyaf," said MILF spokesperson Eid Kabalu. Abu Majid, a MILF junior political officer based in Basilan, claimed also that attacks have been indiscriminate. "There is no distinction between civilians, Abu Sayyaf, MILF, or those involved in the ceasefire between the Philippine government and the MILF," Majid told the MILF-affiliated 'Luwaran.' Experts have long claimed that the lines between MILF, Moro National Liberation Front--the precursor of the MILF--Abu Sayyaf and lawless groups are very misty in the Sulu Archipelago and that alliances shift fast and are mostly driven by ethnicity and family ties. Moro is the communal term to define the original tribes of Mindanao and Sulu that were islamised in 1380. Karim ul' Makhdum, was the first Islamic missionary to reach the Sulu Archipelago and Jolo. He is credited with bringing Islam to what is now the Philippines, Asia's largest Catholic country. However, there are an estimated 4.5 million Muslims in the Philippines and the majority live in the south of the country. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 no ceasefire in Eid, a-holes |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-12-10 18:46 |