‘50,000 MILF men in secret training’

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Some 50,000 Muslim separatists are in training in secret camps in Mindanao despite peace talks with Manila, a senior rebel leader claimed yesterday.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front has also resumed manufacturing firearms, three years after the military flushed them out of their camps in Mindanao, MILF regional chief Ustadz Shariff Jullabi said.

"Our mujahedin, some 50,000 of them, are now undergoing training and we will pursue the aspiration of the Bangsamoro (Muslim) people for an independent homeland in the south. Soon we will return to our camps," Jullabi told the Agence France Presse.

The MILF has manufactured "more than 10,000 anti-tank rocket launchers" and "we will continue building up forces," he said, noting that seven out of 10 MILF rebels were now armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

The MILF signed a ceasefire pact with Manila last year while negotiating a Malaysian-brokered peace accord with the Philippine go-vernment.

But the peace talks only gave the MILF "time to rebuild and consolidate our forces," Jullabi said, stressing the military was doing the same thing.

"It’s a war so we make strategies," Jullabi said.

The rebel leader also accused the military of continuing to encroach into rebel territories in the south despite the ceasefire, which could provoke deadly clashes.

Meanwhile, the MILF leadership was also concerned about the massive military buildup in the south to round up the remnants of the smaller Abu Sayyaf kidnap gang, MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu told AFP.

However, he would not comment on Jullabi’s statement.

The military could mistake some 6,000 MILF fighters scattered in the southern Zamboanga peninsula alone for the Abu Sayyaf, potentially triggering a firefight, Kabalu said.

"It is clear to us that the target is the Abu Sayyaf. But we are worried and should the (armed forces) refuse to honor the ceasefire, there will be a spillover" of violence, Kabalu warned.

"We are on a defensive position, there is an arrangement made by the coordinating committees, but there is also the possibility of hostilities," he said.

Meanwhile, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) assailed "full scale military operations" allegedly launched Tuesday morning against Abdurahman Tutin alias Commander Basco and his forces in Datu Piang town in Maguindanao.

Citing a report on the incident by Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema who is also MNLF secretary-general, the MNLF said the assault involved troops from the 37th, 47th and 32nd Infantry battalions of the Army.

A statement signed by MNLF interim chairman Hatmil Hassan also claimed that the ground troops were assisted by OV-10 bombers and helicopter gunships, in addition to heavy artillery and mortar bombings.

"The area attacked by the military is actually a UNDP (United Nations Development Program)-designated peace and development community where some livelihood and socio-economic development projects are located," the statement said.

It added that the projects were funded by local government agencies and foreign donors such as the UNDP, the International Labor Organization, Australian Aid and the United States Agency for International Development.

The MNLF, which signed a peace treaty with the government in 1996, said most of the beneficiaries of the programs were former MNLF combatants who were not integrated into the military and the police services.

Hassan claimed that the attack caused damaged to the area and left an undetermined number of casualties among the residents.

He branded the attack as "uncalled for" and condemned it as a "very serious violation" of the peace accord.

"It is getting clear that the military is less interested in preserving and protecting the gains of the peace process and peace agreement," Hassan added.