MERGED: MILF-GRP Peace Process, Related Issues and Developments

[hush232002]

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mao tani angay!!!
The Sri Lankan government today formally declared an end to the 25-year civil war after the army took control of the entire island and killed the leader of the Tamil Tigers.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa this morning delivered a victory address to parliament, declaring that his country had been "liberated" from terrorism.

Recounting how the rebels, known formally as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, (LTTE) once controlled a wide swathe of the north and much of the east, Rajapaksa said that for the first time in 30 years, the country was unified under its elected government.

"We have liberated the whole country from LTTE terrorism," he said, declaring Wednesday a national holiday to celebrate the armed forces.

Addressing parliament in the Tamil language, Rajapaksa said the war was not waged against the Tamil people.
"Our intention was to save the Tamil people from the cruel grip of the LTTE. We all must now live as equals in this free country," he said.

"We must find a homegrown solution to this conflict. That solution should be acceptable to all the communities. We have to find a solution based on the philosophy of Buddhism."

According to the Sri Lankan army, the chief of the LTTE, Velupillai Prabhakaran, was shot dead by Sri Lankan forces.

[hush232002]

mao ta ni angay!!!
The Sri Lankan government today formally declared an end to the 25-year civil war after the army took control of the entire island and killed the leader of the Tamil Tigers.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa this morning delivered a victory address to parliament, declaring that his country had been "liberated" from terrorism.

Recounting how the rebels, known formally as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, (LTTE) once controlled a wide swathe of the north and much of the east, Rajapaksa said that for the first time in 30 years, the country was unified under its elected government.

"We have liberated the whole country from LTTE terrorism," he said, declaring Wednesday a national holiday to celebrate the armed forces.

Addressing parliament in the Tamil language, Rajapaksa said the war was not waged against the Tamil people."Our intention was to save the Tamil people from the cruel grip of the LTTE. We all must now live as equals in this free country," he said.

"We must find a homegrown solution to this conflict. That solution should be acceptable to all the communities. We have to find a solution based on the philosophy of Buddhism."

According to the Sri Lankan army, the chief of the LTTE, Velupillai Prabhakaran, was shot dead by Sri Lankan forces.

[KlaytoN]

"We must find a homegrown solution to this conflict. That solution should be acceptable to all the communities. We have to find a solution based on the philosophy of Buddhism."

The holy grail of all conflicts..

I guess the only sensible option/solution left for the government is to implement the full force of the law in Mindanao.

[hush232002]

dia pa o!!!

October 21, 2011 - The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is stunned by illogical thinking of some news writers, military men, and Filipino politicians, who accused the MILF’s native fighters of Basilan of treachery when they killed 31 Army Special Forces in an eight-hour firefight in sitio Bakisung, village of Cambug in Albarka town in Basilan from 5:30am up to 4:00pm.Tuesday, on October 18. Twelve others were also wounded in action during the firefight. The native defenders suffered six killed and one wounded.

“We were the ones attacked and the Special Forces, who are highly-trained, were in full battle gear and their mission was to kill as many MILF forces including Commander Dan Laksaw Asnawi. We were only very lucky, because we have received an A-1 intelligence report earlier from our agent in the military that they are going to attack us that very early morning; so we prepared ourselves.”

[hush232002]

dia po o!!!

October 21, 2011 - The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is stunned by illogical thinking of some news writers, military men, and Filipino politicians, who accused the MILF’s native fighters of Basilan of treachery when they killed 31 Army Special Forces in an eight-hour firefight in sitio Bakisung, village of Cambug in Albarka town in Basilan from 5:30am up to 4:00pm.Tuesday, on October 18. Twelve others were also wounded in action during the firefight. The native defenders suffered six killed and one wounded.

“We were the ones attacked and the Special Forces, who are highly-trained, were in full battle gear and their mission was to kill as many MILF forces including Commander Dan Laksaw Asnawi. We were only very lucky, because we have received an A-1 intelligence report earlier from our agent in the military that they are going to attack us that very early morning; so we prepared ourselves.”

[Piker.50]

As for that matter, please check my comment at Post #417 of this thread.

Another note is a brief reminder that the MILF has never been branded as a terrorist organization by the US. In fact friends sila sa imong Uncle Sam.. They had several engagements with former Pres Bush..

And what if they've had engagements with the US? If they are in diplomatic terms with the US or with our government they would keep the surviving soldiers as POW instead of hacking them to death.
The MILF has ties/links to some terrorist groups often providing shelter to some leaders, however they are denying such ties.

[Sand Man]

I'm quite surprised that the Army have just deployed the Rangers and LRUs just now when they should've been at the tip of the spear...

Scout Rangers sent to Zambo Sibugay

MANILA, Philippines - The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) deployed a company-size Scout Ranger team and other elite forces to Zamboanga Sibugay on Wednesday morning in an attempt to finally corner rebel leader Waning Abdulsalam.

In a press conference, AFP deputy chief of staff for operations Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta said AFP chief Gen. Eduardo Oban has already ordered troops to soon finish the operations there.

Besides the Scout Rangers, also deployed were a Light Reaction Unit and another elite unit of the Army that was trained and equipped by the United States on counter-terrorism.

"Our Ranger and Light Reaction companies are on the verge of assaulting, if not already assaulting. That is the present situation right now," he said. "We will just have to wait for reports coming from our forces as they completely occupy the area, we hope it’s very soon.”

He said Oban wants to finish the combat operations there this week. “We hope that this afternoon or even tonight or early morning tomorrow, we should have declared victory in that piece of land.”

Waning’s group, considered a lawless element by the government, is supposedly responsible for the deaths of government forces in September.

He said the group may still be able to flee considering the topography of the area.

"If you will look at the area, it's very huge, 1 kilometer by 3.7 kilometers is a big area. Coupled with this, it is surrounded by thick mangroves that may be used as possible escape routes. Our Navy has forces or ships or boats surrounding that area. However, we cannot completely discount the possibility that they may escape," he said.

But the terrain can also prove a disadvantage to the enemies, he said.

Mabanta said OV-10 bomber planes have delivered eight 500-lbs bombs and six 650-lbs bombs on the enemy lair last Monday and Tuesday.

He said the military is not discounting the possibility that the fighting may spill over to some areas.

“That is a scenario that we are preparing for and if it happens we are prepared for all of these eventualities,” he said.

source

The statement in red above appears to be nanghunaw daan si Oban in case wa silay madakpan/mapatay na MILF...

[JcBoY]

I would like to commend and thanks my fellow istoryan Gareb for his profound insights and understanding of the Mindanao conflict, the facts that he had presented to us, will make us understand the real problem and hopefully keep us away from making a wrong and devastating conclusions.

Likewise, I would like to share this blog entitled “The Setting Sun - BangsaMoro Conflict – Historical Antecedents and Present Impact” from a fellow: Datu Jamal Ashley Yahya Abbas
http://jamalashley.wordpress.com/2007/04/17/bangsa-moro-conflict-historical-antecedents-and-present-impact/

And a short video presentation “The BangsaMoro – video”
http://jamalashley.wordpress.com/the-bangsa-moro/

[Faeries]

three points:

• what was a military operation doing inside a supposed "area of temporary stay"?
• it has already been announced that the commander responsible was a rogue element of the MILF.
• should the entire peace process with the MILF collapse because of such incident, instead of apprehending the one directly responsible? will we also wage a war against other factions within the MILF that are pushing for peace?

i made a few observations with the current status of the peace negotiations between the MILF and the GRP and its similarities with the PLO/Fatah and Israel. it's on page 14 of this thread. kindly check it out.

1. Are you saying that as a sovereign state our troops are not allowede to enter certain areas within our sovereign territory?

2. Found posted by another, was able to read this also in a newspaper

October 21, 2011 - The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is stunned by illogical thinking of some news writers, military men, and Filipino politicians, who accused the MILF’s native fighters of Basilan of treachery when they killed 31 Army Special Forces in an eight-hour firefight in sitio Bakisung, village of Cambug in Albarka town in Basilan from 5:30am up to 4:00pm.Tuesday, on October 18. Twelve others were also wounded in action during the firefight. The native defenders suffered six killed and one wounded.

“We were the ones attacked and the Special Forces, who are highly-trained, were in full battle gear and their mission was to kill as many MILF forces including Commander Dan Laksaw Asnawi. We were only very lucky, because we have received an A-1 intelligence report earlier from our agent in the military that they are going to attack us that very early morning; so we prepared ourselves.”

This belies their claim that it was a renegade MILF leader.

I have no problems about the soldiers killed in action but more on those soldiers that were hacked to death. Obviously they should have been given protection as prisoners under the Geneva Convention.

3. Yes. Assuming that what they are saying is true that it was indeed renegade commanders and faction it only shows that MILF has no control over its members, or maybe it just very convenient for them to say "oh its a rogue commander we should not be blame for it."

Why should we talk with a supposed entity that has no control over its members?

4.

bear in mind that though Fatah and Hamas are at war with each other,

You said that FATAH and HAMAS are at war with each other. Is there now a faction within the MILF? NO. They are not even willing to surrender these rogue commanders.

In my point of view they like to project an image that they are distinct with each other but that truth is they came from one source.

[Faeries]

yes, it was lip service and a spectacular failure. the Bangsamoro nation has been fighting for recognition of their rights for decades now, only to be granted by an ineffective and corrupt ARMM. it is but safe to assume that according to logical progression and reason, they will bear arms yet again and ask for full sovereignty from GRP.

what we always fail to grasp is that there are two distinct nations within the Philippines; the Bangsamoro of the south, and the Filipinos occupying the rest of the country. we come from the same Malay stock, but even if you disregard religion, our development as a people is glaringly different from theirs.

when one begins to accept that fact, one begins to understand the aspirations of the Bangsamoro, and one begins to differentiate certain elements that led to the chaos that is now Mindanao. when you see these elements, you will then be made aware that if you resort to war as a solution, this will not be any different from prescribing genocide to a people who wants independence.

I beg to disagree with that there are two distinct nations in the Philippines you are disregarding the fact that there are also tribes in LUzon and Visayaz region. We do have to consider them also distinct nation from the supposed "nation" created during the Spanish period and so after that.

Should we then also give them what you are willing to give this groups?
Just like the Ifugaos and the Igorot or how about the Tribes in Panay?

Furthermore not even all within the territory the MILF is claiming are muslims or moros.