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Southeast Asia
Philippines Enlist Muslim Rebels Against JI
2003-10-29
EFL:
The Philippines has enlisted the country’s largest rebel group in the fight against the regional Muslim militant network Jemaah Islamiah, new Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Wednesday.
Yeah, that’ll work.
Who better to guard the henhouse than the fox?
Ermita, who took the reins of the military two months after a July mutiny by disgruntled soldiers, said the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) had agreed to implement a pact to hand over wanted criminals and militants in areas it controls. "We are challenging them to help the government in locating these people and accounting (for) them in order to free their area of JI elements so that there will be no suspicion that they have relations with JI," he told Reuters in an interview.
"Put up or shut up!"
The agreement comes as President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo focuses on the JI as a major national security threat, raising the pressure on the MILF to cut any links it has with the group in the run-up to peace talks being brokered by Malaysia.
Gloria really, really, really wants a peace deal.
Former general Ermita was the chief government negotiator with Muslim rebels before Arroyo handed him the defense portfolio in September. Ermita said he had warned the MILF that ties with JI, blamed for several bombings in the region including a devastating blast in Bali last year, could derail the peace talks that are due to start on an informal basis in Kuala Lumpur next week. A fragile cease-fire with MILF militants has held since August, and the MILF declared it had cut links with JI and the al Qaeda network when it decided to enter the peace talks.
Sure you did.
"We want to give them the benefit of the doubt because we have the peace process," Ermita said. "Once we get to know that they have not severed as they promise, then it will be an entirely different story." He said the MILF would have a chance to prove its good faith by responding to a list of wanted criminals and militants the government planned to hand over. "I have specific instructions to furnish the list to the MILF so we will see if they are sincere." .
That last sentence tells me this is Gloria’s idea. The only question is does she believe this is going to work, or is this their one last chance before the hammer comes down. If I was the MILF, I’d play along, publicly give up any JI people I had at hand (who are poison right now), and see what I could get at the peace talks. Then lay low for awhile, you can always resume actions at a later date.
Posted by:Steve

#1  "MILF" - Ah-hahahhaha!! - I hope they find out what that acronym stands for in english!
Posted by: Jarhead   2003-10-29 2:48:27 PM  

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