MILF infighting threatens peace in South (Sensitive Content Warning)

COTABATO CITY – The brewing violence and infighting among Moro Islamic Liberation Forces (MILF) have further place the leader of the former rebel group Ahod ‘Murad’ Ebrahim in a position where he failed to control his warring top commanders in Maguindanao del Sur, one of the provinces of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) where he sits as Chief Minister.

The recent fighting in the villages of Madia and Dapiawan between forces of the MILF’s 105^th Base Command of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BILF) under Commander Moat Sindatuk and Commander Bobby Adam of the 118^th Base Command of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces. 

The town is just 54 kilometers from here, the seat of power of the BARMM where Ebrahim and other senior MILF officials he appointed hold office. 

The sporadic battle, according to police and military reports, had killed at least a dozen MILF fighters from both sides in Datu Ampatuan town and forced thousands of civilians in several villages to flee to safety. Worse, the bloodshed occurred on the last day of the holy month of Ramadan. 

The BILF is the armed wing of the MILF which signed a peace deal with the Filipino government in 2014 after 17 years of negotiations. However, despite the accord, members of the MILF are still fully armed and even expanded their territories and its members increased tenfold from a mere military estimate of 12,000. 

The clashes also forced security forces and armored troops carriers to deploy and secure vital government installations and highways linking the province to North Cotabato province to ensure the safety of travellers and civilians. 

The latest fighting was not the first as both groups also clashed in recent years while trying to wrest control of territories.   

This further bolstered reports that Ebrahim is losing or had no total control over his MILF commanders and members, and that the once largest rebel group in the South has allegedly become a private army, and the others dependent on what the government promised them as part of the provisions of the peace deal.    

Last February 7, MILF forces held hostage 39 elite army soldiers in the village of Dilimbayan in Maguing town in Lanao del Sur province and released them a day later after security officials negotiated for their freedom. 

The soldiers were all disarmed and brought them to an MILF camp where heavily armed men guarded them throughout the night. The infantrymen, part of a group that stormed a communist rebel base near the town, were returning to their rendezvous when MILF forces surrounded and captured them. 

Members of the government’s ceasefire committee negotiated with their MILF counterpart and successfully recovered the soldiers after their release. It was unknown whether MILF gunmen returned the weapons they seized from the Special Forces soldiers after the disgraceful incident. (Mindanao Examiner)