MILF: A New Strategic Ally

MILF: A New Strategic Ally

Way back in 2005, the mountainous stronghold of the Philippine’s Moro Islamic Liberation Front has always been an asylum among Abu  Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani and other al-Qaida-linked militants since it is the largest Muslim rebel group in the southern Philippines.

As the rebels  turned them away, being afraid that harboring extremists would spoil their peace talks with the government, Janjalani – among the most-wanted terrorist suspects in Southeast Asia – was killed by troops in another jungle area, a year after.

The rebels' refusal of Janjalani, which was reported at the time by military and police intelligence officials, shows the possibility of strapping up the main Moro insurgents in fighting extremism and preventing their vast monopoly from serving as one of the last remaining refuges of al-Qaida-affiliated militants, who have been bashed by years of crackdowns across Southeast Asia.

As the Philippine officials clinched a peace deal on Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the government sincerely hoped that the remaining 11,000 —strong rebellious group will turn into a frightening force that will go against the remnants of the Abu Sayyaf and other radicals, including several Indonesian and Malaysian militants believed to be taking cover in the southern Mindanao region.

"We can wage battle with the MILF," Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said. "This will really isolate groups like the Abu Sayyaf."

The United States, Britain and Australia, responsive of the promising peace agreement's potential counterterrorism dividends, were among the first to praise the scheme accord with the rebels announced Oct. 7 by President Benigno Aquino III. It will be formally signed in Manila on Monday.

“Foreign governments have supported the peace process partly because of counterterrorism policies," Bryony Lau of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said. In addition with that, they also worried about poor governance and high levels of poverty that have beleaguered the insurgency-affected regions, he said.

While the Moro rebel group has ended ties with foreign extremists to safeguard peace talks, "there may well still be individual ... commanders with continuing ties," Lau said, adding that "the framework agreement increases the incentives for the MILF leadership to ensure that their members are not harboring such people."

Posted by James Fried on Sunday October 14 2012, 4:45 AM EST. Ref: CNN. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0