DATE=5/16/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=PHILIPPINES / REBELS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-262405
BYLINE=KONRAD MULLER
DATELINE=MANILA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: In a move that could stop the escalating
hostilities on the main southern Philippine island of
Mindanao, the country's leading
Muslim separatist group has started a pullback of
forces. But as Konrad Muller reports from Manila,
the government's response is still unclear, while
the costs of the conflict mount.
TEXT: Monday night the Moro Islamic Liberation
Front, or M-I-L-F, started withdrawing one
kilometer back from a disputed strip of highway,
near the group's main camp in central Mindanao.
Fighting with government forces has raged there
since late April and caused the separatists to
suspend peace talks with Manila.
With 15-thousand armed fighters, the M-I-L-F is
the main group seeking an Islamic state in the
southern Philippines. The Abu Sayyaf, a smaller,
more extreme group, has been at the center of the
current hostage crisis in the area.
M-I-L-F sources say that the voluntary pullback -
- which the rebels hope will be completed Tuesday
night -- is in response to a public clamor for an
end to the violence and a return to the
negotiating table.
But in Manila the country's political leadership
has responded only cautiously to the overture.
Officials say further clarifications are being
sought. A presidential spokesman says the M-I-L-
F's move could simply be tactical and designed to
secure a respite from military pressure.
The Philippine army says it has no plans to alter
its operations. The M-I-L-F's announcement of a
withdrawal was initially greeted by the military
Monday night with a barrage of artillery,
although no further clashes were reported in the
immediate vicinity early Tuesday.
The toll of nearly three weeks of conflict is
already plain. Hundreds are believed killed or
injured and 230-thousand civilians have been
displaced. Many are now suffering from
respiratory infections or diarrhea. Dysentery and
malaria have been reported in crowded evacuation
centers.
The financial cost of the ongoing military
operation is also mounting. It has been estimated
at more than one million dollars a day.
NEB/KM/FC
16-May-2000 05:15 AM EDT (16-May-2000 0915 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
