ZAMBOANGA CITY, 24 September 2004 — The separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) yesterday invited Australia to send inspectors to a rebel base in the southern Philippines and see for themselves that it is devoid of Jemaah Islamiyah militants.
“We are inviting Australia to send a team to Mount Kararao (in central Mindanao) where there have been allegations of JI presence,” said MILf spokesman Eid Kabalu.
“We have a standing request to the Malaysian government also, which has already sent an advance team of monitors,” he said.
But Australian officials immediately rejected the offer, saying it would come to nothing.
Australia, which has lost several nationals in bombing attacks by Jemaah Islamiyah militants in Indonesia, wants to send ‘flying squads” to patrol Philippine and Indonesian waters in a bid to keep militants away from its shores.
US and Australian officials have expressed deep concerns over the persistent reports of such terror camps.
But even a spokesman of the Philippine military said yesterday said the reports were outdated.
“It was an old information, maybe about five years old and Mindanao is not a haven for terrorists and the MILF is complying with the cease-fire agreement it signed with the government and there is an ongoing peace talks between the government and the MILF,” Lucero said in an interview.
Last month, government troops killed and captured several members of the Pentagon kidnap gang on a tip from the MILF. This was revealed by by the MILF and the Philippine National Police.
Kabalu maintained that all the MILF aims for is to come up with a political solution to the decades-long fighting in Mindanao.
“We are reiterating our stand that the MILF is for peace and we will continue sincerely the peace talks with the Philippine government. And we strongly deny any reports of links with either the Al-Qaeda or the Jemaah Islamiyah,” he said. (Additional input from agencies
