The Moro Islamic Liberation Front has offered to help the Cotabato province police de-escalate recent clashes. According to representatives of the group, these are feuds between clans over which the MILF could have some influence. On February 18, the national police banned firearms.
Manila () – The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a former Islamic independence group, has offered to collaborate with the Cotabato province police to reduce violence in the Pikit municipality, where a series of clashes recently broke out with firearms.
Since the beginning of the month, the local authorities have registered a wave of attacks that have terrified the inhabitants of the area, and some have even considered the possibility of leaving the city. On Valentine’s Day, a 13-year-old boy was killed in a shootout and two other students were injured; the previous day they had killed a security guard and on February 16, some armed men killed a 15-year-old girl and injured a 42-year-old peasant. On February 18, the governor of Lanao del Sur, Mamintal Adiong, was also killed. wounded in an ambush in which four of his companions died. The Bangsamoro local government immediately accepted the MILF’s cooperation in the investigation.
On the same day, by order of the Director General of the Philippine Police, the ban on firearms came into force in the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur and 63 villages in the province of Cotabato, special zones under the jurisdiction of the autonomous region of Bangsamoro, on the island of Mindanao.
The Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (Ahjag), a coordination body that acts as a bridge between the Philippine National Armed Forces and the pro-independence groups of the Moro ethnic group (including the MILF and its armed wing, the Islamic Armed Forces of Bangsamoro or BIAF), welcomed the ban.
The MILF’s representative in the Ahjag, Anwar Alamada, said a collective approach from all stakeholders is required to stop the violence, which began as a “rido,” a feud between clans. “The MILF is committed to participating in this collective action. We feel compassion for the innocent civilians who have been involved in this conflict,” Alamada said, adding that there are several members of the MILF in the warring factions over whom the organization can exercise certainty. influence.
The Muslim-majority region – officially called the “Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao” – was born in 2019 after several years of peace talks between the Philippine government and Muslim pro-independence groups such as the MILF and its armed wing, the Biaf. Since the late 1960s, Muslim militiamen have been fighting for the creation of an Islamic state on the island of Mindanao, carrying out terrorist attacks with the support of some foreign states such as Gadhafi’s Libya.
After decades of fighting the Philippine military, in 2011 the MILF turned its demand into greater regional autonomy from the central government, sanctioned in 2018 by the Bangsamoro Organic Law, in exchange for which the group had pledged to disarm its 30,000 militiamen.
