PHILIPPINES: Hopes Narrow for Peace With Muslim Rebels

By Marwaan Macan-Markar Reprint | | Print |

Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Aug 22 2008 (IPS) - Hopes for peace in southern Philippines have grown slim as fighting escalates between government troops and Muslim separatist rebels. When August began, a different mood prevailed as negotiators on both sides reported progress on reconciliation talks on the sensitive issue of land.

Already, over 100 people have been killed and close to 150,000 civilians displaced in five provinces on the southern island of Mindanao, where the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has been waging a separatist campaign, according to news reports from Manila.

The government of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered more troops into the region in addition to having the navy block a sea route the rebels may use to escape. The province of North Cotabato has witnessed some of the worst clashes, with close to 100,000 people forced to flee their homes, according to a government official.

Humanitarian agencies working in the area have been taken aback at the pace of the violence, which began on Aug. 4, has spiralled. ‘’We have been surprised at the speed at which it has escalated,’’ Colin Davis, the deputy representative of the United Nations Childrens’ Fund (UNICEF) in the Philippines, told IPS by phone from Manila. ‘’We are concerned at the many children who have been affected. There are almost 50,000 children of the 150,000 who have been displaced and are not going back to their homes because they are afraid.’’

Although the fighting has been limited to ‘’hot spots’’ in that troubled terrain, ‘’they have been spreading in the past three weeks,’’ added Davis. ‘’The fighting has been limited to these hot spots but they are increasing.’’

On Thursday, the global rights lobby Amnesty International (AI) raised the alarm at the greater risks the civilians caught in the conflict face if Manila ‘’supports the creation of untrained and unaccountable civilian militias.’’

It has confirmed that ‘’local political leaders in Mindanao’s Iligan City and North Cotabato province led efforts to form civilian militias after MILF attacks,’’ AI revealed in a statement. ‘’In Iligan City, the site of two bomb attacks on Aug. 17 blamed on MILF elements, a group of 300 licensed gun owners, politicians and local government officials have set up a civilian militia called ‘God Save Iligan City’.’’

‘’All sides to this conflict should step back from the brink and demonstrate their commitment to avoid harming civilians,’’ says Sam Zarifi, AI’s Asia-Pacific director. ‘’The MILF must control its forces, and the Philippines government should take responsibility for the security of all peoples in the Philippines, regardless of religion or ethnicity.’’

The latest burst of violence began when MILF units launched attacks on villages and farmlands, shooting and hacking to death 39 people and bombing and burning houses. In subsequent days, rebel units attacked civilians and took hostages.

‘’MILF units that targeted villages have engaged in serious violations of international law and should be held to account,’’ said Zarifi of the attacks that the MILF central command denies were ordered by it, but was, rather, the work of two renegade MILF commanders.

The attacks commenced soon after the Philippines Supreme Court blocked the signing of a deal between Manila and the MILF over the sensitive issue of the land area to be included in the Muslim autonomous region in the predominantly Catholic country. The deal, which had been sealed during recent talks held in Malaysia, revealed that more land would come under the autonomous region for the three million Muslims who live in the south.

The court’s decision followed a complaint by Catholic leaders in the region that they had not been properly briefed about the new terms, where the six-province Muslim region would be expanded to include 712 villages as part of a territory called ‘’ancestral domain.’’ This week, the Arroyo administration announced it was scrapping the new land deal, but declared that it was still open to peace talks.

The aborted deal had been described as a linchpin to start peace talks aimed at ending a conflict that spans four decades, where more than 120,000 people have been killed and two million people displaced. The conflict has slowed economic growth in the resource-rich southern island.

But critics of the government said that the land deal violated the Philippines constitution since it created conditions for setting up an independent state within the country. ‘’Do not build a Berlin Wall among the people of Mindanao,’’ Celso Lobregat, mayor of the predominantly Catholic city of Zamboanga, told a public rally early this month, according to media reports.

Peace talks between the government and the MILF have been brokered by Malaysia following a 2003 ceasefire agreement. Since then, clashes between the two warring parties have decreased. In 2007, there were 15 reported clashes, as against the over 600 incidents a year previously.

The current failure to secure peace on the Mindanao island is not new in the South-east Asian nation. In 1996, Manila announced that the Muslim rebellion had ended after it signed a deal with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the group that had called the shots before the MILF emerged.

But the MNLF leaders were faulted by the MILF of sacrificing their political goals of achieving self-determination for their community by accepting the economic perks Manila showered on them. Since 1996, many MNLF members have returned to fighting.

This week, a leading MILF figure issued an ominous message about the troubles that lie ahead for the Philippines. ‘’The agreement on ancestral domain is a done deal. No more, no less. Now if they want to scrap it, that’s up to them. We won’t entertain re-negotiation,’’ MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal was quoted as having told the Associated Press news agency.