Terrorist tag will mean bloodier war, MILF warns

Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels warned on Wednesday that President Arroyo’s threat to label them terrorists could end peace talks and drag Mindanao into an even bloodier war.

The government, faced with a spate of bombings and attacks blamed on the separatist MILF, has given the rebels until June 1 to renounce terrorism and turn over rebels responsible for the attacks.

Otherwise, the government said it will regard the MILF a terrorist organization and ask the United States to include the group on its terrorist list, a step toward cutting the rebels’ foreign support. Two other Philippine groups fighting the government are already on the US list.

“We have nothing to clarify and we have nothing to offer,” MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said in response to the government’s demands, describing them as part of efforts to bully the rebels into surrendering.

If the government declares the MILF a terrorist organization, Kabalu said it would mean “the government is closing its door to the peace process and [intends to] pursue a military solution.”

“Then we have to defend ourselves at all costs,” Kabalu told The Associated Press. “It will be a bloody war.”

Despite recent setbacks in peace talks, Kabalu said his group would be willing to resume negotiations if the government complies with past agreements, withdraws troops from a recently seized rebel stronghold and retracts criminal charges against MILF leaders over recent deadly bombings.

The government had been reluctant to put a terrorist tag on the MILF, which has been fighting for a separate Muslim homeland, for fear it may disrupt sporadic peace talks with the rebels.

But after a series of bombings and raids that left more than 200 dead this year, Mrs. Arroyo has warned of a crackdown, unless the rebels show they want peace and distance themselves from foreign terrorists.

In the latest bombing, 10 people were killed and 40 others were injured when a blast ripped through a crowded market in Koronadal City on Saturday.

On Wednesday, eight gunmen, identifying themselves as MILF rebels, burned a bus in Zamboanga del Sur after robbing the passengers.

“This is not a fight against Muslims. This is a fight against terror being waged by all decent and civilized Filipinos,” Arroyo said in a statement Wednesday. “We will not acknowledge false offers of peace or succumb to political pressure.”

Philippine and Singapore officials have linked the MILF to Jema’ah Islamiyah, a Muslim militant group which is allegedly associated with al-Qaeda and has been blamed for last year’s Bali bombings in Indonesia that killed 202 people.