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By Jason Gutierrez, Agence France-Presse
CAMP DARAPANAN, Philippines: After a protracted
30-year insurgency which has seen up to 150,000 people killed,
Muslim rebels are facing an uncertain future as peace finally looks
near in the southern Philippines.
With talks due to resume this month between the
Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)
many young Muslims in this sprawling rebel camp in Mindanao are
trying to come to terms with the prospect of peace.
Government negotiators and the MILF leadership
are optimistic the final hurdles to peace can be overcome by
granting limited autonomy to the Muslim minority in this predominant
Roman Catholic Southeast Asian nation.
For many of the 12,000 MILF rebels, especially
the young, peace is likely to bring an uncertain future.
MILF chief Murad Ibrahim, in a rare interview
with AFP, said he was worried for their future, especially for those
born into war and the many whose parents and older relatives have
died as “martyrs.”
At 58, Ibrahim is seen by many as more pragmatic
and moderate than his predecessor Salamat Hashim, the Egypt-trained
MILF founder who espoused continued jihad for a Muslim homeland.
Salamat died of a heart attack in 2003.
“We cannot fail in this struggle for peace,”
said Murad, who long ago traded his military fatigues and combat
boots for gray safari suits and loafers.
“If we fail, we will be in a far worse
situation.”
Murad said it was too early to talk about
disarming his men as “we still have to reach a political
settlement that will be beneficial to everyone.”
With a ceasefire and peace talks now entering
their fifth year Murad says the longer the talks drag on “we run
the risk of spoilers entering the picture.”
The spoilers he refers to are the
Indonesian-based Jemaah Islamiah (JI) and Abu Sayyaf—both of which
have links with al-Qaeda.
Moro fighter Abdullah, who uses one name, says
he is concerned about the future.
A young man in his early 20s clutching a rusty
M-60 machine gun, he is a veteran of many jungle battles and is
ready, he says, to die for the cause.
“I have not been to a battle since last
year,” Abdullah says, perspiration trickling down his brow. He is
wearing mismatched fatigues that bears a striking resemblance to
those used by Sri Lakan Tamil insurgents.
“I have had many adventures with this gun, I
sleep with it and never go anywhere without it,” he says. “I
cannot part with my weapon.”— “it’s not in my blood to be a
farmer”—Abdullah says he is not prepared to lay down his weapon
even if a final peace deal is signed.
“It’s not in my blood to be a farmer,” he
said.
Abdullah’s sentiments are shared by many MILF
guerrillas, notably the second and third generation fighters whose
elders formed the core of the first mujaheeds who fought the
insurgency in the 1970s.
Security analysts say the biggest problem faced
by the government is disarming the rebels, with younger MILF
fighters opposed to the peace deal seen as highly susceptible to
more radicalization by groups such as the JI and the Abu Sayyaf.
“With the history of the Mindanao conflict,
these groups are always there to exploit the situation,” says
Julkipli Wadi, an Islamic studies professor at the University of the
Philippines who has closely followed the insurgency.
“The JI and the Abu Sayyaf could form
strategic alliances with these young fighters who may not want to
part with their firearms,” Wadi said.
Yusuph Abisakir, the mild-mannered administrator
at the sprawling Camp Darapanan that spans several towns in central
Mindanao, says he hopes that the rigid command structure of the
MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) would keep cadres in
line once a peace deal is signed.
“I have not seen any open resentment” to the
talks, Abisakir said, adding that many of the fighters want to see
peace achieved in their lifetimes.
“But of course no one will agree to give up
their firearms,” said Abisakir, whose job is to give spiritual and
military guidance to the more than 1,000 regular MILF fighters in
the camp.
Government and the MILF are mulling the
possibility of transforming the rebels into a “territorial
force” to guard areas to be covered under a final peace deal. They
would not be disarmed, rather than slowly integrated into government
forces.
Another idea is for government to buy the guns
outright and offer jobs to the rebels.
For MILF field commander Toks Guiwan, whose two
young sons are also fighters, such talk of disarmament only upsets
his men.
“It’s dangerous talk, my men have known no
other job than to fight,” he says.
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