Philippine rebels protest alleged militant links

MANILA, June 13: The largest of four Muslim rebel groups in the southern Philippines today said that a fresh effort by the military to link it with foreign militants could jeopardise peace talks.

The government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) are trying to wrap up negotiations on an ancestral homeland for an estimated 3 million Muslims in the south and end nearly 40 years of conflict that has killed 120,000 people.

''There is a gradual effort to bring back to life the alleged presence of the Jemaah Islamiah in central Mindanao,'' an unidentified senior MILF commander said in a statement on the group's Web site -- luwaran.com.

Jemaah Islamiah (JI), believed to be al Qaeda's franchise in Southeast Asia, is blamed for a series of deadly attacks in the region, including bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali in 2002 and 2005.

The MILF leader, who said he sat on the rebels' panel working with the government to hunt criminals hiding in guerrilla areas, noted his group has cooperated with security forces in freeing a number of kidnapping victims on Mindanao island.

He said the MILF also stayed out of areas where troops launched offensives last year to hunt down members of Abu Sayyaf, a small but radical local group with ties to al Qaeda and JI.

Last week Major-General Rodolfo Obiniana said there were intelligence reports that a group of suspected Indonesian militants was hiding near MILF camps in Lanao province.

Obiniana said it was difficult for soldiers to pursue the foreign militants, suspected of being under MILF protection, due to the ongoing peace talks brokered by Malaysia since 2001.

''We would like to caution some government and army officials from issuing irresponsible statements because it could adversely affect the peace talks,'' MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu told Reuters.

''The general's statement was not helping build confidence.'' Philippine security officials say there could be about 40 JI members seeking refuge in the south -- one group of 25 belonging to the mainstream faction led by the hardline Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir and another 15 working with a separate wing.

The bigger group was believed to be hiding near MILF areas on Mindanao while the smaller faction, while the smaller faction was thought to be on Jolo island with the Abu Sayyaf.

A security analyst said he believed the MILF was sincere in negotiating a peace deal with Manila, although some commanders may have personal ties and sympathies with suspected JI members.

Rohan Gunaratna, head of the political violence and terrorism centre at Singapore's Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, said an accord with the MILF would help stabilise the region.

''If there was peace with the MILF, it will be very difficult for foreign terrorist groups to come and operate in the southern Philippines, such as Jemaah Islamiah,'' Gunaratna told a Manila forum on Saturday.

REUTERS