Fighting threatens Moro-RP peace talks<\/p>\n
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AFP): Fighting has broken out between
\nPhilippine government forces and the main Moro rebel group, the
\nMNLF, threatening to scuttle this week's crucial peace talks,
\nofficials said.<\/p>\n
Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) chairman Nur Misuari
\nwarned he would boycott the three-day negotiations set to start
\nWednesday in Davao City after MNLF rebels fought a three-hour
\nbattle with Army special forces, backed by helicopter gunships,
\nin southern Basilan island Sunday.<\/p>\n
Army officials said there could have been heavy casualties on
\nthe MNLF side but could not confirm news reports that two air
\nforce helicopter pilots were wounded.<\/p>\n
MNLF spokesman Mohammad Sali Apostol quoted Misuari as saying
\nhe will not attend the Davao talks if the military's Southern
\nCommand will not give an explanation for the clash, which he says
\nviolates a cease-fire signed by the two forces to pave the way
\nfor the negotiations.<\/p>\n
Misuari arrived in the southern island of Jolo near Basilan on
\nSunday for the talks, which both sides have described as crucial
\nafter an informal meeting in Jakarta earlier this month.<\/p>\n
During the Jakarta talks, Misuari indicated that a compromise
\nwas within reach to settle over 20 years of separatist strife in
\nthe main southern island of Mindanao.<\/p>\n
Col. Antonio Santos, an army brigade commander, said more than
\n100 armed men from the MNLF's \"National Security Command,\" which
\nguards Misuari, were about to land in Pilas island off Basilan
\nwhen soldiers guarding an outpost there refused them entry,
\nsparking the gun battle.<\/p>\n
Basilan's police commander, Senior Superintendent Constantino
\nSayson, said some 500 civilians were evacuated for fear of their
\ngetting caught in the crossfire.<\/p>\n
The southern command headquarters in Zamboanga is also
\nchecking reports that hundreds of MNLF rebels from the nearby
\nislands of Sulu and Basilan were on their way to Pilas to
\nreinforce their comrades.<\/p>\n
Government negotiators were not immediately available for
\ncomment on Misuari's threat to boycott the talks.<\/p>\n
In a separate development, two incidents suspected of being
\nintended to derail the forthcoming talks raised tension overnight
\nin Zamboanga.<\/p>\n
A security guard was injured before dawn yesterday after two
\nmen aboard a motorcycle hurled a grenade at the liquefied gas
\nretail shop he was guarding.<\/p>\n
The grenade explosion injured the guard and shattered windows
\nat the shop but as the gas cylinders inside were all empty, no
\nfurther explosions were ignited, police said.<\/p>\n
Hours earlier, a man checked into a small hotel room in
\nZamboanga late Sunday but then fled soon after an employee
\nnoticed he was carrying gasoline.<\/p>\n
Two plastic containers of gasoline, matches and an improvised
\nfuse were found inside his room after he fled, police said.<\/p>\n
The Davao talks, the latest in the three-year-old peace
\nprocess, are aimed creating a Moslem autonomous region in
\nMindanao, which this country's Moslem minority has claimed as
\ntheir ancestral homeland.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/fighting-threatens-moro-rp-peace-talks-1447893297",
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