MNLF chair calls on Pnoy, UN and UK to intervene in Sabah row

From the Philippine News Agency (Mar 7): MNLF chair calls on Pnoy, UN and UK to intervene in Sabah row

Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) chairman Muslimin Sema has called on President Benigno Aquino III, United Nations and United Kingdom to intervene now in the Sabah row before more lives will be lost as the tension continued between the followers of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III and the Malaysian forces.

Sema, also the vice mayor of Cotabato City, said that it is now the right time for Aquino and officials of UN and UK to act before it’s too late. “I am calling on Pnoy, UN and UK to intervene in Sabah (row) to avoid slaughter of Sultan Kiram’s followers,” he said.

This came after the national government has remained passive on the incident even as more than 30 people were already reported killed in the ongoing battles between two warring groups of Kiram’s armed men and Malaysian police forces.

It was reported that some of Kiram’s men holed up in Lahad Datu are MNLF members, who were earlier trained in Malaysia.

In a press conference in Davao City on Thursday, Aquino was quoted as saying that the Sabah incident is now being investigated by the Department of Justice in determining the people behind the armed conflict and the extent of their involvement.

He said the Philippine government would only make a concrete move upon reaching the result of the ongoing investigation.

Sabah on Borneo island has been the subject of a tug-of-war between descendants of a Sulu sultan and Malaysia. The crisis took a violent turn this month after Malaysian troops attacked members of the Sultanate of Sulu who arrived in Sabah on Feb. 14 to stake their claim on the island.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=&sid=&nid=&rid=504829