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Nur Misuari	Nur Misuari	Moro National Liberation Front	Southeast Asia	Filipino	Captured	Supremo	20020422
		Head of MNLF. Broke a ceasefire with the Philippine government, was chased out of the country, captured in Malaysia, and jugged in Philippines.

Southeast Asia

MNLF chief gets closed-door meeting with Duterte

2017-03-30

[Rappler] On the eve of his birthday, President Rodrigo Duterte met with Moro National Liberation Front chairman Nur Misuari. Misuari brought along his wife, Madam Tarhata, and son Abdulkarim, to his private audience with Duterte on the night of March 27. Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella described it as a "closed-door meeting" and did not elaborate when the media asked about any agreements reached or decisions made. But he said he expected their talk to have been about the Mindanao peace process. Abella said, "They talked about strengthening relationships, they talked about peace, they talked about the development of the area." Duterte previously said he had been discussing with the Muslim leader a "preparatory document" about a proposed federal system for Mindanao. "I have been talking to Misuari, I already talked with him yesterday.... We are talking, we are crafting a sort of a preparatory document so that we can go into the process of proposing the federal structure," said the President last Friday. Misuari has agreed to participate in the crafting of a law that will create a new Bangsamoro region. The Philippine government plans to create a panel that will engage Nur's MNLF faction, separate from the panel engaging the rival Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Misuari is facing charges of rebellion and crimes against humanity over his role in the 2013 Zamboanga siege. But he was given temporary freedom when Duterte ordered the suspension of arrest warrants against him to allow him to participate in the Mindanao peace negotiations.

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Southeast Asia

Zamboanga City plans to persue cases against Misuari

2016-10-23

[SunStar] The Zamboanga City government stands firm in its decision to pursue its cases against Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) Chairman Nur Misuari and his followers in connection with a 2013 siege. This despite whether President Rodrigo Duterte manages to hold a planned meeting with Misuari about peace negotiations. City Legal Officer Jesus Carbon Jr. reiterated that the planned Duterte-Misuari meeting will not affect his city stance, though he made clear that the city government respects Duterte's actions in trying to achieve peace in Mindanao "but we also have to follow the rule of law." Carbon said, "While we respect the actions of the President, we ought to follow the rule of law. So, it will not affect our stand as far as the criminal cases pending in Pasig are concerned." Misuari and several of his men face charges for violation of the International Humanitarian Law and other crimes in connection with the 21-day September 2013 siege. The siege started after hundreds of MNLF followers infiltrated and besieged at least four villages in the city.

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Southeast Asia

Duterte considers land as concession to insurgents

2016-10-11

[Manila Bulletin] Philippine president Duterte is willing to grant concessions, including awarding of public lands, to communist insurgents and Muslim rebels as part of the peace negotiations. Duterte said, "We can only talk and if you are able to convince the communists, they would require a huge amount, resources. They will not go into a surrendering mode by just simply dropping the guns. They would ask for concessions. Concessions would be land, which is very good. I agree with them, I can open up the whole, the entire Republic of the Philippines, all public lands ibigay ko, tutal hindi naman nagagamit, especially for food." The Philippine president said he would be happy, not only giving such land, but also funds amounting to "another billions of pesos" to the insurgents in talks with the government. Duterte admitted there would be a "huge expenditure" to develop the Muslim territory since "they have lost that initiative for all of these years, they’ve been fighting for their land." In an unprecedented move, the Philippine government has declared a ceasefire with communist insurgents, released several political prisoners, and tapped some left-leaning activists to the Cabinet. Meanwhile, the Duterte said he would hold a meeting with MNLF founding leader, Nur Misuari, this week to advance the peace process in Mindanao. Law enforcers have been ordered not to arrest Misuari, who has long been wanted for the deadly Zamboanga siege in 2013. Duterte said, "That's my order to the police and the military. Why? I am not a war-type president. My job is to seek peace for my land. So you have to talk to everybody." The Philippine president said he leaves it to leaders of different MNLF factions – Misuari, Muslimin Sema, and Abul Khayr Alonto, who is chair of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) – on how to "fix internal dynamics" but he said the three of them are willing to talk again. Duterte also reiterated the need to address the fighting in Mindanao stemming from the historical injustices committed by American and Spanish colonizers against the Moro people.

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Southeast Asia

Duterte set to talk peace with fugitive Moro leader

2016-10-06

[AA.TR] The Philippines president is expected to soon meet and hold talks with runaway Moro leader Nur Misuari in the southern city of Davao to advance peace in the country's Moslem south. Rodrigo Duterte has said that the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founder -- wanted for a siege on a southern city in which around 200 people died and tens of thousands were displaced -- would be given safe passage and has described him as one leader who maintains influence and stature among all Moro rebels. Duterte's government is in the process of consolidating all agreements with all Moro groups in an effort to finally achieve peace in the south. Late Tuesday, however, he rejected a plan by Misuari to bring his own men to Davao for talks. "That would not be possible anymore. First, he is facing charges and if at all he is allowed to go out, he cannot bring arms," the Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Duterte as saying in a speech in Makati City, Metro Manila. "I don't care if he will do that, that would not bother me, but the fact is the military and the police will not allow it, and I won’t run roughshod with them if I insist it my way." Duterte has instead offered to fetch the 77-year-old from Sulu and bring him to Davao for talks, but has not said when such a meeting will take place. Misuari is wanted for staging a bloody siege in the majority Christian city of Zamboanga in 2013 to protest a grinding of the peace processor by rival group the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which Misuari claims leaves Moslems in the country’s south shortchanged in comparison to an earlier MNLF peace deal.

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Southeast Asia

Abu Sayyaf releases three Indonesian hostages

2016-10-04

[Mindanao Examiner] Abu Sayyaf rebels on Sunday freed 3 Indonesian hostages to the Moro National Liberation Front in the southern Philippines. Officials identified them as Muhammad Mahbrur Dahri, Ferry Arifin and Edi Suryono, all tugboat crew members who were kidnapped in Sabah on June 22. The boat was heading to East Kalimantan following a trip from the Philippines when gunmen on speedboats intercepted the vessel. MNLF chief Nur Misuari, escorted by dozens of armed followers, personally handed over the hostages to Sulu Governor Totoh Tan. Tan immediately turned them over to the Philippine military after feeding them. Indonesian media previously reported that the hostages were held by the cell of Alhabsi Misaya, a former MNLF militant. Misaya left the MNLF and joined the Abu Sayyaf several years ago after Misuari reportedly ordered his execution, according to military intelligence reports. Recently, Malaysia has ordered negotiators to intensify talks with the Abu Sayyaf in an effort to secure the freedom of five Malaysian tugboat crew members being held captive in Sulu. The Abu Sayyaf contacted the Malaysian newspaper The Star and allowed one of the hostages Mohd Ridzuan Ismail to speak to its staff. Mohd Ridzuan said they were constantly being threatened and beaten by the Abu Sayyaf, and pleaded desperately with authorities to secure their safe release. He said, "We can’t bear it anymore. We are in pain. All of us are sick. We have cuts on our bodies. We are weak. No food to eat. What’s more, we are beaten. There are people who want to shoot us. Please help us." He said a man who introduced himself as Abu Rami demanded P100 million ransoms for the five Malaysian hostages, who are reportedly being held in three separate groups in Luuk town. Mohd Ridzuan said their captors only give them rice and rarely feed them. "We're suffering in Jolo (Sulu) Island. We appeal to the Malaysian government and our boss to negotiate for our release as we want to return home as soon as possible. We are frightened. This is not our place. They whack us and they told us that they can shoot us," he said.

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Southeast Asia

Duterte: No amnesty for Abu Sayyaf

2016-09-27

[RAPPLER] Under his watch, members of the Abu Sayyaf ...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder... Group (ASG) will never be granted amnesty, said President Rodrigo Duterte. "The Abu Sayyaf were decapitating people like they would just fowls and pigs and goats. And there will be no talks. The Armed Forces is right, rejecting amnesty for them. I will not, I will never. There will never be an amnesty for so much killing," said Duterte on Monday, September 26. He was speaking at the oath-taking ceremony of Malacañang Press Corps officers at the Palace. Apparently, the suggestion to include the Abu Sayyaf in peace talks, with the possibility of the granting of amnesty, was suggested by Moro National Liberation Front (MILF) leader Nur Misuari. Misuari had facilitated the release of Norwegian hostage Kjartan Sekkingstad from the ASG. According to an exclusive Rappler report, Misuari may have even earned from Sekkingstad's release. "Then Nur, problem is Nur, parang hinihigop niya iyong ‐ isali na niya iyong Abu Sayyaf (it's like he wants to include the Abu Sayyaf), which I would like to tell the nation now: No. I will not talk peace with the Abu Sayyaf," said Duterte. He is averse to the idea because including the bandit group in talks would be "like slapping the nation," said Duterte.

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Southeast Asia

Abu Sayyaf releases three more hostages

2016-09-19

[Gulf Today] The Abu Sayyaf has released three more hostages less than 24 hours after they freed a Norwegian businessman reportedly following payment of a $600,000 ransom. MNLF spokesman Samsula Adju said the latest to be freed where three Indonesian crewmen of an Indonesian tugboat abducted on the Sulu Sea on July 19. He said, "Yes, they were released to the MNLF by the Abu Sayyaf." Authorities said Sekkingstad and the three Indonesians spent the night with MNLF chief Nur Misuari before they were turned over on Sunday morning to Secretary Jesus Dureza, the presidential adviser on the peace process. Dureza said, "His first words to me when I spoke to him on the phone was, 'Thank you to President Duterte'." "Basically, I've been treated like a slave, carrying their stuff around, time to time abused," a frail-looking Sekkingstad said when he was received by a government envoy in the town of Indanan on the island of Jolo. Also released were three Indonesians held by the group, who were also turned over to envoy Jesus Dureza. Reports say that Dureza will bring the four hostages from Sulu to Davao City for a meeting with President Duterte. But the issue of whether a ransom was paid for the release of the four hostages was not confirmed due to the official government policy not to give in to ransom demands of the Abu Sayyaf. In what was called a "slip of the tongue," Duterte himself told reporters that associates of Sekkingstad had raised at least $1 million for his release when informed of another beheading. It turned out, however, that the Abu Sayyaf had beheaded a 19-year-old son of a Sulu court employee they earlier abducted in Sulu for his family's failure to pay their ransom demand.

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Southeast Asia

Abu Sayyaf kill four MNLF militants

2016-09-03

[Anadolu] Abu Sayyaf militants killed four members of a rebel group in the Philippines' Muslim south Friday, as a military offensive against the Daesh-linked rebels. Reports say that Abu Sayyaf gunmen attacked a camp of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in the island province of Sulu. The fatalities included four MNLF militants and an Abu Sayyaf rebel. The attack comes after the Abu Sayyaf issued statements threatening to launch attacks on military camps and communities in Sulu after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered troops to intensify operations against them. MNLF militants have been known to play a role in efforts opposing the Abu Sayyaf, the group's commitment increasing after Duterte reached out to include the indigenous Moro front in the ongoing peace process. Last month, four Abu Sayyaf rebels died after a gun battle with MNLF militants in Kalingalang Caluang, Sulu. The four MNLF militants killed Friday were reported to be from the faction of the group's fugitive founder Nur Misuari, who earlier this year began negotiations with the Abu Sayyaf that resulted in the rebels' release of 14 Indonesian sailors.

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Southeast Asia

Duterte ready to deliver BBL to MILF

2016-07-23

[Inquirer] There is enough land in the Philippines for all, including the Bangsamoro people, President Duterte said on Friday. Praising Moro Islamic Liberation Front leader Al Haj Murad for pursuing peace talks, Duterte said that he was ready to give the MILF the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) it wanted but without the contentious provisions deemed unconstitutional. The proposed BBL, written by negotiators after the signing of a peace agreement in 2014, would establish an autonomous Bangsamoro region in Mindanao. But the investigation of a battle between elite police forces and Moro rebels in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, in January last year that left 44 police commandos, 17 MILF fighters and three civilians dead delayed BBL deliberations in Congress, and the legislature adjourned in February without passing the proposed charter. Duterte noted that there were warnings of a return to war if Congress did not pass the proposed BBL. The MILF stood by its promise to talk, he said. Duterte declared, "I am ready to give the BBL minus the constitutional issues that are contentious and cannot be solved by an agreement between me [and the MILF]." One such issue is the proposed regional armed forces and regional police, which breaks the chain of command and cannot be allowed, Duterte said. But he added he was willing to grant the unchallenged provisions of the BBL, and the same goes for Nur Misuari's Moro National Liberation Front faction, which signed a peace agreement in 1996. Duterte said, "Even if you give them that part of the territory (the proposed Bangsamoro region), there’s enough land in the Philippines. The Philippines is vast. As long as there is no fighting, everybody can be accommodated, and we can establish industrial zones."

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Southeast Asia

Five more Malaysians seized by Abu Sayyaf

2016-07-20

[CNN] Philippine Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza on Tuesday confirmed reports that five Malaysians tugboat crew members have been kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf in Sabah, Malaysia. He said, "They took again five more Malaysians in Lahad Datu." The tugboat was sailing from Sandakan to Sempora when it was waylaid. The vessel was found unmanned on Saturday in Lahad Datu, a part of the waters bordering Tawi-Tawi. If the kidnapping is confirmed, there would have been at least 18 Indonesians and Malaysians seized by the Abu Sayyaf in three separate abductions since early this year. Dureza said Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leader Nur Misuari has informed officials he is willing to assist in going after the Abu Sayyaf. The Abu Sayyaf was a breakaway group from the MNLF, established by Abdurajak Janjalani in the 1990s. Dureza said, "There is an effort right now by the group of Chairman Nur Misuari. I talked with him today, he called me over the phone and he said that he'd like to do coordination with our military forces on the ground because they'd like also to help in addressing the criminal acts committed by the so-called Abu Sayyaf Group."

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Southeast Asia

Zamboanga blast: One year later

2016-01-26

[Inquirer] Philippine president Aquino was infuriated: Abu Sayyaf terrorists had detonated a car bomb in the heart of Zamboanga City on Jan. 23, 2015, and had managed to smuggle firearms into the city jail. A ranking Malacañang official said last week, "The President was really pissed off that time," adding that he wanted to go to the city to check the security situation there for himself. Aquino's whereabouts in Zamboanga City have been questioned in light of renewed calls in the Senate to look into his role in the Special Action Force operation to capture wanted Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, in Mamasapano, Maguindanao province, which led to the death of 44 police commandos. Other sources said that Aquino was to fly to Zamboanga on January 25, the birthday of his late mother, former President Corazon Aquino. The ASG planned to spring out of jail Benzar Indama, who is the brother of Abu Sayyaf leader Puruji Indama, and 56 other members. It had been less than two years since the bloody Zamboanga siege, where a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front led by Nur Misuari, tried to take over the city. The 2013 battle claimed the lives of nine civilians, 18 soldiers, five policemen and some 100 MNLF fighters. The January 23 car bombing killed two people and wounded more than 50. That day, two government agents had been monitoring the movements of at least two suspected Abu Sayyaf militants, and had even followed them into an alley, not knowing that a homemade bomb had been planted inside the car parked in front of a bus terminal.

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Southeast Asia

Misuari presence at MNLF meeting confirmed

2016-01-14

[Inquirer] Notorious fugitive Nur Misuari, founding chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front, was among over 2,000 MNLF militants and supporters who came from all over Mindanao to attend a "general membership meeting" in Sulu province last weekend, according to a top faction chief of the group. Habib Hashim Mudjahab, chair of the MNLF's Islamic Command Council, said the talks were focused on preparations for the tripartite meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, to be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from January 25-27. Misuari faces multiple murder charges in connection with the 2013 siege of Zamboanga City by his rebel followers, which left more than 200 people dead and hundreds of thousands of families homeless. A warrant for his arrest was issued in December 2013, but there was no move by law enforcement agencies to arrest him during the meeting in the militant stronghold in Barangay Kagay in Indanan town. Brig. Gen. Alan Arrojado, who confirmed Misuari's presence in Kagay, said, "It is not our job to serve the warrant of arrest. It's the mandate of our police. If they (police) need our help as backup support, we will do so." Mudjahab said it would not be easy for security forces to arrest Misuari in the presence of thousands of MNLF militants and supporters. He said, "The meeting was in full coordination with the local authorities, and maybe they made an evaluation about the repercussions (of a Misuari arrest)."

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