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| Southeast Asia |
| Abu Sayyaf is the military wing of a political movement |
| 2005-02-22 |
| The extremist Abu Sayyaf is merely a military wing of a terrorist "nebulous party." This was the government's assessment of the terrorist group in the new National Internal Security Plan (NISP) that is now the subject of discussions and brainstorming in the unified command levels of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Based on the 28-page security plan that was drafted by the Cabinet Oversight Committee on Internal Security (COC-IS), it said that the Abu Sayyaf has "a nebulous party structure" performing the role of a "brain" in the entire terrorist organization, and that this has yet to be fully determined and identified by government operatives. The group's "nebulous party," added the NISP, has "civilian supporters acting as its shield," while the Abu Sayyaf "itself as the sword." Such presumptions were compared to how the government regards the mainstream underground Maoist movement and the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). With regard the Maoist rebel movement, the NISP pointed out that the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) is its "brain," its underground political umbrella, the National Democratic Front (NDF), its "shield," and the New People's Army (NPA) is its "sword." As for the MILF, the rebel front is in itself the "brain," its revolutionary mass bases in Mindanao are its "shields," while its mujahideens (holy warriors) in the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF), are its "sword." The NISP has it that the "core members" of the Abu Sayyaf were former mujahideens who fought in the Afghan wars of the 1980s. It later grew in strength when it was able to recruit disgruntled members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) after it entered into a peace agreement with the government in the early 1990s. After a series of government assaults, the Abu Sayyaf became a mere "lawless terrorist bandit group claiming Islamic theocratic objectives." However, the NISP noted that it still "exerts influence and enjoys support in the provinces of Basilan, Sulu, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur and Sarangani." "Lately," added the same document, "it has been pre-occupied with recruitment and kidnap-for-ransom activities to generate funds for the procurement of high-powered weapons." By now, the Abu Sayyaf has a fighting force of less than 300, from a peak of 1,200, but the government nonetheless considers it "as the immediate threat group in Southwestern Mindanao." "While many
communities (in Mindanao) are against the means by which the (Abu Sayyaf) hopes to attain its goal," the NISP assessed, "(it) continues to enjoy some degree of support." The Abu Sayyaf is being suspected by authorities to have established a link with the Jeemah Islamiya, the Southeast Asian terror network of Saudi-dissident Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda. Its ultimate objective is to carve an independent Islamic state in Mindanao. All of the Abu Sayyaf's terrorist units have been dispersed from its former regular fighting formations to avoid head-to-head confrontations with government forces, as the NISP document warned that "its special operations groups (are) lurking in several urban centers (to) conduct terroristic activities, to include bombings of uncooperative business establishments." By now, the government suspects that the Abu Sayyaf has already struck an alliance with a faction of the MNLF loyal to jailed former Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Nur Misuari, which recently staged a revolt in Sulu. While Abu Sayyaf terrorists are now believed to be also operating in Metro Manila, the military has vague information with regards its linkages with the shadowy Luzon-based terrorist group Rajah Solaiman Revolutionary Movement (RSRM). For the past three years, police and military operatives have encountered elements of the RSRM and its self-styled armed wing, the Hukbong Khalid Trinidad (HKT), in campaigns against terrorism in Tarlac, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija and Pangasinan. According to the NISP, "Government response (to the Abu Sayyaf) should not only put an end to terrorism and banditry." "More importantly," it added, "(government has to) address poverty, which is the breeding ground of terrorism." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |