Muslim rebels have forced hundreds of Christian families off their farms in the southern Philippines
Pastor Dale Morgan
Muslim rebels have forced hundreds of Christian families off their farms
in the southern Philippines*
02 May 2008 08:23:07 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Manny Mogato
MANILA, May 2 (Reuters) - Muslim rebels have forced hundreds of
Christian families off their farms in the southern Philippines,
escalating tensions in the region ahead of the withdrawal of Malaysian
peace monitors next week.
Rolando Garcia, mayor of Kalamansig town on the troubled southern island
of Mindanao, said on Friday that heavily-armed members of the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) claimed the farmers' land belonged to
the Muslim minority.
"We have about 1,200 people in our temporary shelter areas... afraid to
return to their farms," Garcia told reporters, adding rice was about to
be harvested when the rebels came late on Wednesday.
The 11,000-strong MILF is meant to be observing a ceasefire and a
spokesman for the rebel group said he was unaware of any land seizures.
"We have not received any report on that," Eid Kabalu told reporters,
adding the MILF leadership has ordered units to abide by a 2003 truce
even after the Malaysian peace monitors withdraw.
Some MILF members are frustrated that long-running peace talks with
Manila for the creation of a homeland for Muslims in the south of the
largely Catholic country have been stalled since December 2007.
Last week, Malaysia said around 20 of 41 peacekeepers would leave on May
10 and the rest will be withdrawn by the end of August because the peace
process, which Kuala Lumpur was chairing, was not moving fast enough.
Garcia said many Christian communities in the south feared of similar
MILF attacks on their farms and villages as frustration boils over.
But analysts have said they do not expect the ceasefire to break down
because most MILF members are war weary after a near 40-year conflict
that has killed 120,000 people and displaced two million.
The MILF has questioned the sincerity of the government in wanting to
create a Muslim homeland in the south.
Although President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has repeatedly said she wants
peace, hawks in her cabinet are opposed to giving large swathes of land
to Muslims and politically powerful Christian clans in the south would
oppose a deal.
(Reporting by Manny Mogato; Editing by Carmel Crimmins)