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| Southeast Asia |
| Communist And Muslim Rebels Collaborate In Mindanao |
| 2006-03-22 |
| Zamboanga City, 22 March (AKI) - Communist and Islamic rebels in the autonomous Muslim region on the southern Philippines island of Mindanao, have been working together for some time in their fight against the central government in Manila, a spokesman for the banned Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has confirmed. "These alliances are in line with the revolutionary (Communist) movement's support and recognition of the (mainly Islamic) Moro people's struggle against the puppet and reactionary Manila-based government," Gregorio Rosal said in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI). The southern Philippines have a long history of conflict, with Islamic rebel groups as well as communist rebels fighting for independence in the region. The various Islamic separatist groups want to establish an Islamic state in the mainly Catholic country. More than 120,000 people have been killed in Mindanao in the conflict that has lasted nearly 40 years. The CPP through its armed wing, the NewÂ’s People Army (NPA) has fought for over three decades to establish a Maoist state in the Philippines. The most significant deal between the Communists and the Muslim groups was struck in 1998 between the National Democratic Front (NDF) - of which the CPP is a member - and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The National Democratic Front is an umbrella organisation that brings together the various pro-communist and pro-maoist rebel groups in the Philippines while the MILF is the largest of the various armed pro-Islamic groups in Mindanao active since 1987. According to Rosal contact with various Muslim rebel groups in the Philippines began much earlier. "As early as 1987, the CPP had a good and fruitful relationship with the MILF, and began holding a number of top level meetings aimed at co-ordinating the struggle against the the common enemy - the Manila-based reactionary and pro-imperialist government," Rosal said. Even before its deal with the MILF, the CPP also had contacts with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the first among the various revolutionary groups in Mindanao to be established. Founded in the early 1960s, the MNLF began its armed campaign in 1972. In 1996 the group signed a peace accord with the government in Manila and is no longer active in the region. "As early as 1979, we also had some sort of a working - although not yet a formal - alliance with the Moro National Liberation Front," Rosal explained. Although the hub of the NPA's operations is in Central Luzon, the area north of Manila, the group also operates through 130 different guerilla groups, some of which are on Mindanao. Informal peace talks have begun between the government of the Philippines and the different Communist and Islamic groups to bring about an end to the years of conflict that have stunted growth in Mindanao. However the talks have not progressed to a formal level. On Wednesday, the informal peace talks between the government and the MILF, which were supposed to pave the way to formal negotiations, ended in an impasse while talks with the NDF ended in 2004. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #3 The same way that those commies, Chavez and his supporters, are collaborating with muslim terrorists in Venezuela. |
| Posted by: TMH 2006-03-22 21:28 |
| #2 they do live in the jungle... |
| Posted by: bk 2006-03-22 19:01 |
| #1 Yes indeed -- go far enough left and you meet the right. Vicious animals. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-03-22 17:04 |