MILF warns US against helping Philippine troops in major offensive

MANILA (AFP) May 20, 2003
The largest Muslim separatist force in the Philippines on Tuesday warned the United States against helping the local military in assaults against the insurgents.

Eid Kabalu, the spokesman for the 12,500-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), said the group would not harm the US troops if they do not actively help in the government's fight with the rebels.

"But if they help the government, that is another story. We cannot just sit down and allow them to kill us. That would be illogical," Kabalu told AFP by phone from his base in the southern Philippines.

Kabalu also denied allegations by the Philippines it was engaged in terrorist activities, and accused the military of often instigating the fighting.

Before departing for a state visit to Washington on Saturday, Arroyo ordered the military to launch "selective" air assaults and artillery fire on "embedded terrorist cells," referring to MILF units that have launched deadly bombings and raids that left almost 100 since March.

On Monday, US President George W. Bush praised Arroyo for steadfastly backing the US-led war on terrorism and said his government considered the Philippines a key "non-NATO ally."

Bush also urged the MILF to "abandon the path of violence."

"If it does so, and addresses its grievances through peaceful negotiations, then the United States will provide diplomatic and financial support to a renewed peace process," Bush said.

But he added that his government was prepared to assist the Philippine military in terms of training and providing equipment.

Small units of US troops have been training Filipino soldiers in counter-terror operations in the southern Philippines.

The joint operations are however largely against the Abu Sayyaf group, a small Muslim kidnap gang with alleged links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

More US troops are to be deployed later this year, officials said.

The MILF has been waging a rebellion for the establishment of an Islamic state in southern third of this largely Christian country since 1978.

Peace talks with the government remain in limbo after the military dislodged MILF rebels from a major camp in the south in February, triggering a wave of deadly reprisals from the rebels.