Armed foreigners guarding Misuari?

MANILA, Philippines - Armed foreigners were reportedly sighted in the vicinity of the mountain stronghold of Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) chairman Nur Misuari somewhere in Sulu, sources revealed yesterday.

Another source told The STAR that the armed men with Caucasian features could be the same group that visited Misuari before the hostilities in Zamboanga City broke out last year.

The source said the foreigners offered Misuari a flight out of the country on a seaplane at the height of the Zamboanga siege.

MNLF spokesman Absalom Cerveza declined to comment on the reports of armed foreigners in MNLF camps. He said Misuari is secured by his own men, mostly his relatives.

“We have no information of foreigners in MNLF camps. Chairman Misuari has enough men to provide him security, it never happened in the past that foreigners were allowed in MNLF camps,” he said.

Cerveza said Misuari has implemented a four-tier layer of security, meaning even top MNLF leaders have to secure clearance days ahead before they are allowed entry into the heavily fortified camp.

“If there are foreigners then they could be guests of the chairman who want to know the real situation on the ground,” he said.

Cerveza said that before Misuari went underground, foreigners including Americans, officials of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and diplomats from Islamic countries visited him almost daily in his residence in Zamboanga City.

“They were friends of the chairman who just want to say hello,” he said.

Misuari went into hiding after he was charged along with several other MNLF leaders for the Zamboanga siege where hundreds of his armed followers were sent to the city in a bid to raise their flag to declare independence from the government.

Hundreds of people died and more than 10,000 homes were razed in the ensuing street battles in the city.