End fighting in Zamboanga now, Mindanao lawmakers ask govt, MNLF faction

From InterAksyon (Sep 16): End fighting in Zamboanga now, Mindanao lawmakers ask govt, MNLF faction

Lawmakers from Mindanao, the Philippines’ second-largest island, issued an appeal to end fighting in Zamboanga City between government troops and a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), saying innocent civilians are the ones suffering.

"As Muslim leaders whose constituents are now caught in the crossfire and victims of this condemnable war, we wish to beg and appeal in the strongest term to our government and the Moro National Liberation Front to listen to the cry of the people to end this woe, not only for the sake of innocent civilians, but for the sake of humanity," the lawmakers said in a statement read by Sulu Representative Tupay Loong and Maguindanao Representative Bai Sandra Sema in a news conference.

"There will be no victors in this war, but only losers. The issue that both are fighting for cannot be resolved through war but only through peaceful negotiations," they added.

They said they would support efforts to resolve the conflict peacefully, and called on the Muslim Ummah through the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to intervene.

The lawmakers said that many groups have already issued an appeal to end in the fighting, including the United Nations, OIC, European Union and church groups, but both the government and the MNLF have yet to heed it.

More than a dozen have been killed and close to 70,000 individuals have been displaced since the fighting began on September 9.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/70832/end-fighting-in-zamboanga-now-mindanao-lawmakers-ask-govt-mnlf-faction