Abu Sayyaf rebels 'funnels arms' to RI separatists

Abu Sayyaf rebels 'funnels arms' to RI separatists

MANILA (AFP): Abu Sayyaf rebels are funneling arms to
Indonesian separatists while kidnapping foreigners for ransom in
the southern Philippines, a top Filipino official said Wednesday.

Retired general Eduardo Ermita, a security adviser to
President Gloria Arroyo, named the rebels for the first time in
connection with arms shipments to guerrillas in the Indonesian
provinces of Aceh and Irian Jaya.

Speaking after a state visit here last week by Indonesian
President Megawati Soekarnoputri, Ermita said Indonesia had
talked of "firearms moving in from the border of the Philippines
into the border with Indonesia".

"It did not say specifically these are Abu Sayyaf" shipments,
he told reporters.

But smuggled firearms are "somehow supplying the rebel forces
in Aceh, and even Irian Jaya", and Philippine authorities had
concluded "that in all probability it's the Abu Sayyaf", Ermita
said.

Manila is also investigating pilferage at military armories,
Ermita said, adding it was "possible" U.S.-made rifles in Abu
Sayyaf hands were either stolen from the military or sold to them
by rogue soldiers.

Southeast Asian countries are worried about the rise of
religious and other separatist guerrilla movements from Mindanao
in the Philippines and in the two Indonesian provinces.

The Abu Sayyaf, a small group of well-armed Islamic
separatists, hold a U.S. Christian missionary couple and 16
Filipino hostages in the southern Philippine island of Basilan.
Filipino and Indonesian authorities did not discuss the volume or
manner of shipments, Ermita said.

"But you can assume that these are high-powered firearms," he
said. "You don't launch or continue the revolution using
handguns."

Megawati's concern was the reason Arroyo "highlighted the need
to strengthen our border patrol agreements" with Indonesia as
well as with Malaysia, Ermita said.

Abu Sayyaf rebels raided two Malaysian tourist island resorts
off Borneo island last year and abducted western hostages, most
of whom were reportedly released after ransoms were paid.

Filipino officials said the rebels used the money to acquire
more guns and faster vessels, which they put to use when they
raided the Dos Palmas resort in the western Philippines on May 27
to snatch some of their current batch of hostages.

Ermita said the Abu Sayyaf went into kidnappings to generate
funds which they used to purchase arms "from whatever source, and
then maybe when they have enough, maybe they sell some of them to
generate a profit and buy another (batch). It's a vicious cycle".

Asked how the Abu Sayyaf transact gun shipments with
Indonesian rebels, Ermita said "we have no knowledge as to
whether they do this through intermediaries" or whether these
were "transactions among revolutionary forces".

Arroyo has sent 5,000 troops to Basilan to crush the Abu
Sayyaf, but the rebels have continually eluded their pursuers.

Her government is holding peace talks with another Moro
separatist group, the 12,500-member Moro Islamic Liberation Front
(MILF), which is observing a cease-fire.

Manila hopes to sign a political settlement to end the 23-year
MILF rebellion by the end of the year, but Ermita admitted the
disposal of rebel firearms could be a headache.

"Chances are, they might just dispose of some of their
firearms" in the black market, he said.

Meanwhile, Philippine President Gloria Arroyo will meet with
China's ambassador here later this week to assure Beijing her
government was doing its best to secure a Chinese national held
captive by Moro gunmen, her spokesman said Wednesday.

"The president has scheduled a meeting anytime this week ...
with the Chinese ambassador to explain personally what the
administration has been doing and to assure the Chinese that this
administration is very concerned about the kidnapping incident,"
presidential spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said.