Terrorists secretly trained in SE Asia: RP

Terrorists secretly trained in SE Asia: RP

Agencies, Manila

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said on Monday that terrorists have secretly trained in Indonesia, Malaysia and the southern Philippines and that all three are working to prevent Moro extremists from establishing strongholds.

The Philippine government was specifically working with Indonesia to be able to intercept Indonesians involved in terrorism training in isolated areas of Mindanao, the poor southern region where Filipino Muslim extremists and separatist guerrillas have a presence, she said.

"For some time now, terrorist networks have been working across our common seas to establish a radical enclave in parts of Malaysia and Indonesia and in Mindanao," Arroyo said in a statement.

"Small, clandestine training activities have shifted among the three countries as the circumstances would allow and this has happened in isolated parts of Mindanao," Arroyo said, without elaborating.

Philippine police intelligence officials say Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), an al-Qaeda-linked regional militant group blamed for last year's Bali bombings that killed 202 people, has been weakened by crackdowns but continues to plot attacks aimed at establishing an extremist enclave in the region.

Arroyo said U.S. counterterrorism training in the Philippines and Malaysia's help in brokering peace talks between Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the main Muslim guerrilla group suspected of ties with JI, were helping stop the spread of terrorism in the region.

The regional fight against terrorists is unrelenting, she said.

Several Southeast Asian countries have mounted antiterrorism crackdowns in the last couple of years, arresting dozens of suspected JI members, to try to shake off perceptions of the region as a terrorist hotspot that have spooked investors and tourists.

Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines last year signed an antiterrorism agreement that called for greater exchange of intelligence to combat armed militants, joint training exercises and improved cooperation in search and rescue. Cambodia and Thailand later joined the accord.

The United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations also signed an antiterrorism cooperation pact last year in one of the most extensive security arrangements between Washington and its Asian allies in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

In another development, Philippine officials said on Monday that the chair of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will serve as one of five rebel negotiators once a date for peace talks with the Philippine government is set.

Foreign Secretary Blas Ople said the MILF has already submitted to the justice department their list of negotiators, which includes the name of Salamat Hashim, the reclusive leader of the 12,500-strong rebel force.

"They have submitted five names and Salamat is one of them," Ople told reporters after meeting with Malaysian ambassador Mohammad Taufik and government's chief peace negotiator Eduardo Ermita.

Malaysia, a member of the Organization of Islamic Conference, has been helping to broker a peace deal with the rebels.

The MILF, however, must first ask permission from a southern Philippine court to allow Hashim to participate as he is one of several MILF leaders charged in a series of attacks in southern Mindanao island early this year, including a March airport bombing in Davao that left 21 people dead.

Josita Andot, an official of the government peace panel, told AFP earlier Monday that "no definite" date has been set for the resumption of talks, although officials hoped to have them begin in July.