ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines, 28 February 2005 — The military yesterday strongly denied it has forged a truce with followers of jailed Muslim leader Nur Misuari who were blamed for attacking soldiers in the southern Philippine island of Jolo.
Sulu provincial governor Benjamin Loong earlier told reporters that he helped broker the agreement with rebel leader Habier Malik, who led an uprising in the island earlier this month.
“There is no such agreement and the operation against Malik and his group still continue. Malik is in hiding and we are hunting him down,” Southern Command chief Lt. Gen. Alberto Braganza told Arab News.
He said declaring a cease-fire in Jolo is entirely in the hands of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Gen. Efren Abu.
In Manila, presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Arroyo was considering a possible cease-fire and has ordered Abu to fly to Jolo this week to assess whether the government should forge a truce with the rebels.
Bunye defended the initial assaults against the armed followers of Nur Misuari, founder of the former separatist rebel group Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).
“We need to assert the authority of the republic in the area, because without punitive actions, the attacks would possibly be repeated and repeated,” Bunye said.
President Arroyo has previously ignored appeals by Jolo island officials for a cease-fire between troops and rebels.
The clashes broke out on Feb. 7 and have displaced about 30,000 people on Jolo, about 950 kilometers (590 miles) south of Manila.
A major military offensive has led to the capture of a rebel base and driven Misuari’s followers into hiding. Fighting has since subsided, but many displaced villagers refuse to return home, fearing the violence will return.
Former Jolo governor Sakur Tan, who was helping in restoring peace on the island, said he also spoke with Malik’s brother and emissary Halid Malik and assured him that the rebels would not mount fresh offensive as long as soldiers do not attack them.
“We are helping in efforts to resolve this crisis in the interest of safety of the civilians and the preservation of human lives. We are contributing to the efforts to bring about a peaceful atmosphere in Jolo,” the former official said.
Jolo military chief Brig. Gen. Agustin Dema-ala said the rebels had planned the attacks to force the government to free Misuari, who is facing rebellion charges in Manila.
He said the rebels had forged an alliance with the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group in Jolo. But Malik denied links with the Abu Sayyaf, blamed for three deadly bombings Feb. 14 in the southern port cities of General Santos and Davao and in Manila that left 11 people dead and more than 100 wounded.
In a hearing conducted by the House of Representatives at a police jail in Calamba town south of Manila, Misuari also disavowed any alliance with the Abu Sayyaf.
Misuari formerly headed the MNLF that accepted limited autonomy and signed a peace deal with the government in 1996. But violence flared again in November 2001 after some 200 of his followers backed by the Abu Sayyaf, attacked a major army base in Jolo.
Misuari later escaped to Malaysia where he was arrested and deported back home. Misuari was imprisoned on charges of rebellion.
, which carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, but thousands of his followers and supporters still maintain strongholds in Jolo. Many Abu Sayyaf militants were former MNLF members and are still loyal to Misuari and in many instances fought alongside with forces identified with the ex-rebel leader.
Aside from the MNLF, troops are also battling Abu Sayyaf militants the past week and so far killed at least ten and overran a major base in Indanan town on Thursday.
