Posted on 12/05/2001 3:56:34 PM PST by BobP
President wants Misuari on US list of int’l terrorists
Posted:11:38 PM (Manila Time) | December 05, 2001
By Dona Pazzibugan
Inquirer News Service
PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is determined to have Nur Misuari known to the world as a “terrorist.”
The President said Tuesday her administration would ask the United States to include Misuari in its list of international terrorists because of his links to the Abu Sayyaf Group.
“We will be officially notifying the US that we have information that Nur Misuari has links (with the Abu Sayyaf),” the President told reporters.
The Abu Sayyaf, which has been linked to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network, is on a US list of terrorist organizations. The group claims to be fighting for an independent Islamic state, but the Philippine government calls it a bandit gang.
Ms Macapagal recalled US President George W. Bush’s declaration that the US would consider terrorists those who deal with terrorist groups.
“So by that token (Misuari) is a terrorist,” Ms Macapagal said.
Misuari, who led the MNLF since the early 1970s, was ousted as chair by other leaders earlier this year, claiming he mismanaged the regional government and the MNLF.
He was arrested in Malaysian waters on Nov. 24, several days after the government filed rebellion charges against him for leading an attack on an Army base in Jolo, Sulu.
Military officials said days before the attack, Misuari, former governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), allegedly met with Abu Sayyaf leaders.
They said Abu Sayyaf gunmen participated in the Nov. 19 attack on the Army base. The rebel assault and the ensuing military counterattack killed more than 100 people in Jolo.
A week after the Army base attack, Misuari’s armed followers refused to leave an ARMM office complex in Zamboanga City and fought troops who ringed the area. The initial fighting killed 25 of Misuari’s followers, two soldiers and one civilian.
The guerrillas seized 118 people as hostages and freed them in exchange for safe passage to an MNLF-controlled area, where about 300 Misuari loyalists are now surrounded by government forces.
About a dozen more guerrillas have been killed in scattered clashes as troops pursued about 40 others who broke away from the group that took the hostages.
Ms Macapagal dismissed a statement issued by MNLF forces loyal to Misuari that the government started the violence in Jolo on Nov. 19 and in Zamboanga City on Nov. 28.
Ms Macapagal said she would “not dignify any letter” from Misuari “because right now he is charged with rebellion (and) he is a terrorist.”
In a statement dated Dec. 4, the Misuari group said the Armed Forces of the Philippines attacked MNLF camps in Sulu under the pretext of “tactical operations against the Abu Sayyaf.”
The group said the military sent helicopter gunships to Silangkan in Parang, Sulu, on the first day of Ramadan, while Misuari “was in the area visiting his family.”
The group said that when the gunships arrived, “MNLF integrees (in the AFP) and regular troops in the camp fired into the air to drive away the rocket launcher-carrying helicopter gunships.”
“The incident became the pretext for the Philippine occupation forces to order the disarming of the MNLF integrees and to attack the MNLF camp,” the Misuari faction said.
“However, before the AFP could carry out the plan, MNLF integrees, (aided) by mass supporters and MNLF regulars, staged preemptive offensive assaults against the major camps of Philippine occupation forces in Jolo, Indanan, Panamao and Talipao on the early morning of Nov. 19,” it said.
The Misuari faction also said that the military attacked the Cabatangan complex in Zamboanga City on Nov. 27.
“Moving out from the city to reach their camp in Panubigan, Zamboanga del Sur, the MNLF security forces took hold of 82 hostages to escape the AFP dragnet,” the MNLF-Misuari group said.
“Immediately, however, when the MNLF freedom fighters released the hostages, the AFP colonial forces moved in with helicopter gunships to bombard the MNLF camp, resulting in continuous fighting in the area until today,” the group said.
“Chair Misuari is holding morally and criminally responsible the government of President Macapagal-Arroyo for the resumption of the Filipino-Moro war in Mindanao between the MNLF freedom fighters and the Philippine occupation forces,” said the MNLF central committee statement signed by Abu Mohammad and Abu Al Baydr.
The group said the government violated its 1996 peace accord with the MNLF.
Presidential spokesperson Rigoberto Tiglao said the government was “in fact fast-tracking the (1996) peace process” as shown by the holding of the Nov. 26 ARMM elections.
The polls are supposedly the last component of the peace accord signed by Misuari with the Ramos administration.
Misuari opposed the holding of the elections.
Dr. Parouk Hussin is the newly elected ARMM governor. The President has asked him to talk to Misuari’s followers in Barangay Panubigan in Zamboanga City.
Col. Danilo Servando, spokesperson of the Southern Command, said an emissary of Hussin was in the area to convince Julhambrie Misuari and his more than 300 followers to hold a dialogue with Hussin.
Interior Assistant Secretary Ibrahim Iribani for the ARMM identified the emissary as acting ARMM governor Alvarez Isnaji.
“Dr. Parouk is the key to the resolution of this case,” Iribani said. With reports from Carlito Pablo and Norman Bordadora, and Julie S. Alipala
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