Fighting between MNLF, MILF wanes but evacuees still wary

COTABATO CITY, Philippines  – The firefights in Matalam, North Cotabato between rival groups of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front have waned, but evacuees are still reluctant to return home  owing to the lack of agreement between the parties to prevent  a repeat of  hostilities.

The feuding groups have initially agreed to reposition away from Barangay Marbel in Matalam to enable displaced villagers to return home.

Chief Inspector Elias Dandan, chief of the Matalam municipal police, said about 3,000 people were forced to evacuate to  safer areas when forces of the MILF’s 108th Base Command and the MNLF, led by Dima Ambil, figured in running firefights Sunday until almost noontime Monday.

The trouble erupted when Ambil’s group prevented MILF members from entering Barangay Marbel to attend a “peace dialogue” in their combat uniforms and with their guns.

Ambil earlier told reporters he was not against the conduct of the MILF-initiated peace dialogue, but could not allow participants to roam in Barangay Marbel brandishing firearms and rocket launchers.

Barangay Marbel is a “peace zone” and an acknowledged territory of the MNLF, which signed peace accord with the government on September 2, 1996.

Dandan said an MILF member was killed in the ensuing encounters.

The MILF’s chieftain, Al-Haj Murad, on Monday told reporters in Camp Darapanan in Maguindanao that their ceasefire committee is now investigating the incident, along with its government counterpart and the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team.

Dandan said soldiers and members of the North Cotabato provincial police are now positioned in between the feuding groups to prevent them from getting close to each other anew.

Dandan said their main concern now is how to convince evacuees to return to their homes after the rival groups agreed to  disengage pending the resolution of the conflict by community elders and the local government of Matalam. - John Unson