600 RP Moro fighters surrender to authorities<\/p>\n
CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines (Agencies): More than 600 Muslim
\nrebels, including a commander, surrendered on Thursday in a
\nceremony led by Philippine President Joseph Estrada, who urged
\nthe remaining guerrillas to resume peace talks with the
\ngovernment.<\/p>\n
\"We must resolve our differences through peaceful means
\nbecause fighting among ourselves will never bring any good to
\neither one of us,\" Estrada said.<\/p>\n
He said the common enemy of both sides was poverty. \"I cannot
\nfight poverty alone,\" he said. \"I need the help of Christians, I
\nneed the help of Muslims, I need the help of everyone.\"<\/p>\n
Estrada stood on a grandstand as he led the 609 former members
\nof the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, most still wearing
\ncamouflage uniforms with rebel insignias, in pledging allegiance
\nto the government.<\/p>\n
In front of the stage was a long table bearing more than 400
\nfirearms that belonged to the rebels. The surrendering guerrillas
\nwere led by Malupandi \"Commander Lupay\" Cosain, a vice mayor from
\nLanao del Sur province who had joined the Muslim insurgency.<\/p>\n
The group was largest to surrender since the military launched
\na major assault against the MILF early this year. Government
\ntroops have seized 39 MILF camps, including 14 major rebel
\nstrongholds, Estrada said.<\/p>\n
Estrada suspended peace talks with the MILF on June 30 after
\nthe guerrillas refused to abandon their secessionist goal, stop
\nrebel attacks and lay down their arms.<\/p>\n
MILF chairman Salamat Hashim responded by declaring a jihad,
\nor holy war, against the government and dismantled the rebel
\npeace negotiating team.<\/p>\n
More than 200 soldiers have been killed in clashes with the
\nguerrillas since January, the military says. Rebel casualties are
\nnot known.<\/p>\n
\"We ask our Muslim brothers ...to convey to their leaders and
\ntheir colleagues our earnest desire for them to go back to the
\nnegotiating table and rejoin our society,\" Estrada said.<\/p>\n
The MILF is the larger of two groups fighting for an
\nindependent Islamic state in the southern Philippines. The other,
\nthe Abu Sayyaf, is holding four foreigners and a Filipino hostage
\non southern Jolo island.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Vice President Gloria Arroyo said she favors
\nmediation by a group of Islamic countries in the stalled talks
\nwith the MILF.<\/p>\n
Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon, head of a Cabinet committee
\nin charge of national security, said he was not ruling out
\ninvolvement of the group, the 56-nation Organization of Islamic
\nConference.<\/p>\n
Their statements indicated an easing of the government's hard-
\nline stance of not allowing third-party mediation and insisting
\non holding talks only in the Philippines.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, government troops have widened their search for
\nfive hostages held by the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas to islands on the
\nborder with Malaysia and arrested one of the kidnappers, the
\nmilitary said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Burahan Jawad, who took part in the April 23 Abu Sayyaf
\nkidnapping raid of the Malaysian-controlled resort of Sipadan,
\nwas detained on Tawi-Tawi island on Monday, police spokesmen
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
A military and police task force later deployed on Sitankai,
\none of the Tawi-Tawi island group, for a \"follow-up operation to
\nneutralize\" the Abu Sayyaf members hiding in the area, they
\nadded.<\/p>\n
Attention shifted to the Tawi-Tawi island group -- the
\nsouthernmost tip of the Philippines and about 30 minutes by
\nspeedboat from the Malaysian state of Sabah -- after the self-
\nstyled Muslim separatist rebels reportedly deserted their
\nstronghold in the southern island of Jolo.<\/p>\n
There have been no armed clashes between the gunmen and the
\nmilitary rescuers for three days.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/600-rp-moro-fighters-surrender-to-authorities-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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