MAGUINDANAO, Philippines, 28 May 2005 — An unidentified gunman yesterday shot an army soldier at a checkpoint in the southern Philippine province of Maguindanao, causing tensions as thousands of members and supporters of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) gathered for a three-day plenum.
Officials said soldiers were conducting a routine inspection before noon on a convoy of trucks and cars of unarmed rebels headed for the MILF base called Camp Darapanan in Maguindanao’s Sultan Kudarat town when the shooting happened.
“We don’t know who attacked us,” one army officer told Arab News.
He said the unknown assailant who had a homemade 12-gauge pistol suddenly opened fire and quickly escaped when a soldier at the checkpoint near Datu Odin Sinsuat town accosted him.
The soldier, Pfc. James Pran, was slightly hurt in the attack. His uniform bore holes, but his commander said the shrapnel did not penetrate.
Despite the provocation, government and MILF fighters kept their composure and the convoys flowed smoothly.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said they were expecting hundreds of thousands of their regular fighters and supporters to attend the plenum tomorrow.
Al-Haj Murad Ebrahim, the Front's chairman, will address the gathering and give a briefing on the progress of their peace talks with the Arroyo government, said Kabalu.
He said the MILF and Philippine governments are getting close to signing a peace accord meant to end more than three decades of hostilities in Mindanao.
Kabalu said both sides have agreed on several important issues, among them a possible political compromise over Muslim areas where the MILF is actively operating.
He said the peace talks is now centered on the ancestral domain, which is the single most important issue in the peace negotiations before the MILF can reach a political settlement. Ancestral domain refers to the MILF demand for territory that will constitute a Muslim homeland.
“We are optimistic about the peace talks and we are now near into signing an agreement that would finally put an end to the hostilities in the southern Philippines and give the Muslim and the indigenous people what they have longed for, a land they can now call their own. This is a real breakthrough in the peace process,” Kabalu told Arab News.
He said the government side is studying how the MILF would exercise control over the five Muslim autonomous provinces of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao, and other areas in the provinces of Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani where there are large communities of Muslims and indigenous tribes.
Kabalu said the MILF is open to a compromise if only to arrive at an acceptable, reasonable and comprehensive agreement that would include all ethnic groups and tribes in Mindanao.
At least 18 non-Muslim tribal groups live in the southern Philippines, namely, the T’boli, B’laan, Ata, Bagobo, Banwaon, Bukidnon, Dibabawon, Higaunon, Kalagan, Mamanwa, Mandaya, Mangguwangan, Manobo, Mansaka, Subanen, Tagakaolo, Teduray and the Ubo.
Once an agreement is reached on how the MILF would govern these areas, Kabalu said government and rebel peace negotiators would finally discuss the political settlement of the country’s longest-running Muslim insurgency problem. “After peace is achieved, rehabilitation and development of these areas would soon follow,” he said.
Kabalu said the peace talks are to resume next month in Malaysia.
Ebrahim earlier appealed to rebels to be patient, explaining that the quest for a genuine peace accord that would bear concrete results is no picnic
“The road to victory is long and winding,” he said.
President Arroyo opened peace talks with the MILF shortly after she was propelled to the presidency following the ouster of Joseph Estrada — who is accused of plunder — in a popular civilian uprising in January 2001.
The MILF split from Nur Misuari’s Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1978 over policy differences.
In 1996, Misuari signed a peace agreement that led to the creation of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) but the MILF refused to be part of the deal.
Ebrahim said the peace talks with the Arroyo government is the only practical way in finding a just and lasting solution in ending the more three decades of hostilities in the south.
“This is not an exercise in futility. Everybody should support the peace process because this is the only practical and civilized way in finding the just and lasting solution to resolved the conflict peacefully,” he said, noting that members of the influential Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) are all for a political settlement.
