Despite Unilateral Ceasefire: Army, MILF clash; 3 guerrillas dead

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Soldiers and Moro separatist rebels accused each other yesterday of launching attacks in Southern Mindanao despite the government’s declared unilateral ceasefire.

The military said that soldiers killed three rebels while repelling an attack by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in a 15-minute gunbattle last Friday.

Col. Fredesvindo Covarrubias, spokesman of the military’s Southern Command, said 30 separatist guerrillas attacked a patrol near Dapiawan village in Datu Piang, Maguindanao, and fled when their three colleagues fell.

"The guerrillas have been attacking government patrols in Mindanao, particularly in the central region, where there is still a huge presence of MILF forces," Covarrubias said.

"Villagers have been complaining of harassment. They have been seeking our protection from rebels who are extorting money from them, who are robbing them of their farm animals," he added.

But Ghazali Jaafar, the MILF vice chairman, said his men "are being hunted like wild animals by troops."

In a telephone interview from a Mindanao hideout, Jaafar accused the Army of provoking clashes despite President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s declaration last Tuesday of a ceasefire in a bid to restart peace talks.

The rebels have not declared their own ceasefire but said they would only fight if attacked. The MILF is the larger of two Muslim groups fighting to carve separate Islamic states out of Mindanao.

Peace talks collapsed last year after then President Joseph Estrada ordered a massive military campaign that captured at least 45 MILF camps in Mindanao.

Jaafar reiterated his group’s demand that the government withdraw from the camps before any peace talks.

"These MILF encampments, which the military had forcibly taken from us, are actually Muslim communities and must be returned immediately," Jaafar said.

"Many Muslims were displaced when the military took over these encampments and established their presence there," he added.

The government has said it will not return them.

While the government makes peace overtures toward the MILF, it continues an offensive against the Abu Sayyaf, the smaller but more extreme of the two Muslim rebel groups in Mindanao. — John Unson, Roel Pareño