COTABATO CITY, Philippines, 4 July — The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) yesterday cautioned the Philippine government against converting its former headquarters in the south into an area for Christian settlers.
Ghazali Jaafar, MILF vice chairman for political affairs, said such a move would foment discontent among Muslims in the area and could spark renewed hostilities.
“It will surely trigger another armed uprising,” Jaafar told a local radio station. “We don’t want this to happen again.”
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu also said Arroyo’s order was a violation of the terms of the cease-fire agreement signed between the government and the separatist group.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Tuesday visited Camp Abubakar, the former MILF headquarters in the southern region of Mindanao, which was taken over by government troops during an offensive two years ago.
Arroyo ordered the army in the area to set up a permanent camp in the former rebel headquarters, which straddles the three predominantly Muslim towns of Buldon, Barira and Matanog in Maguindanao province, 960 kilometres south of Manila.
She also vowed to transform Camp Abubakar into a “civilian-military camp for peace and development” where all Filipinos can live.
Jaafar noted that should the government push through with its plan to develop the area into a resettlement site, priority should be given to original Muslim residents who were displaced during the offensive in 2000.
The two sides have signed a cease-fire agreement and a plan to rehabilitate and develop conflict-wracked communities in the region, considered one of the most impoverished areas in the country despite being rich in natural resources.
