RP checking on white man who trained rebels
RP checking on white man who trained rebels
MANILA (AFP): The Philippines is looking into intelligence
reports that an unidentified white man had trained Moslem
terrorists who pillaged a town and killed dozens earlier this
month, military chief Arturo Enrile said yesterday.
He also said a joint investigation between the government and
the main Moslem insurgent group, the Moro National Liberation
Front (MNLF), was needed to verify charges that MNLF commanders
took part in the raid on the town despite a cease-fire signed
with Manila.
Enrile confirmed there were intelligence reports that "there
is a Caucasian involved in the training of Abu Sayyaf," the group
blamed for leading the raid on Ipil town on April 4. The town's
commercial center was torched and 66 people were killed.
Enrile said officials were uncertain of press reports saying
the man in question was an ex-U.S. Marine and were only certain
-- judging from a photograph -- that he was Caucasian.
He also said authorities had no evidence that foreigners took
part in the raid on Ipil. The government has previously charged
that Islamic extremists from Pakistan and the Middle East were
giving support to the Abu Sayyaf.
In a related event, Enrile said the MNLF have denied the
military's charges that some of their men joined the Abu Sayyaf
for the Ipil raid. But he added that police evidence "says
otherwise so a joint investigation is in order."
The government met with MNLF representatives in the southern
Philippines earlier this week to discuss the reports of MNLF
involvement in the raid. MNLF leaders have denied that any of
their men were involved.
At the meeting, the government also told the MNLF to submit a
list of the areas they control, apparently to make sure Abu
Sayyaf raiders do not take refuge with the MNLF.
The MNLF, who led a bloody war for a separate Moslem state in
the southern Philippines in the 1970s, signed a cease-fire with
the government to negotiate for autonomy last year.
Defense Secretary Renato De Villa has admitted that some MNLF
commanders are dissatisfied with the present MNLF leadership and
are attracted to Islamic fundamentalism in the Abu Sayyaf, itself
an offshoot of the MNLF.
In a related event, the Philippine Department of Foreign
Affairs (DFA) said here yesterday that Foreign Secretary Roberto
Romulo has met with the foreign ministers of Bangladesh, Jordan,
Oman and the Palestinian territories, to discuss cooperation
against international terrorism.
The DFA said in a statement that Romulo held talks with his
counterparts of these four Moslem states at the meeting of the
Non-Aligned Movement in Bandung, Indonesia.
The DFA said the four all agreed with the idea of an
international conference to counter international terrorism.
The minister from the Palestinian territories, Farouk Kaddoumi
said they would assist the Philippines in dealing with terrorist
activities and all four ministers expressed their support for
Manila's peace negotiations for the MNLF.