Misuari has sent men to negotiate with Abu Sayyaf for safe release of three foreigners and Filipina
The founder of a former secessionist Filipino-Muslim rebel group called for a halt to military operations as he coordinated with a local Filipino-Muslim terror group for the safe release of three foreigners and a Filipina national who were abducted from an upscale resort in southern
Nur Misuari, founder of the 45-year old Moro National
Liberation Front (MNLF) asked the military not to intensity operations in
Parang, Sulu so that the MNLF members would not be caught in the crossfire as
they gain access to the Abu Sayyaf Group, which has taken custody of Canadians
John Ridsdel and Robert Hall, Norweigian Kjartan Sekkingstad, and Filipina
Marites Flor who were kidnapped from Ocean View Resort on Samal island, Davao
del Norte last week, a source who requested for anonymity told Gulf News.
Misuari was concerned about the safety of the hostages and
residents who live near the forested hideaway of the Abu Sayyaf Group, the
source said.
Although the military has refused to confirm reports that
the Abu Sayyaf Group was behind the one-week old hostage-taking, Brig. Gen.
Alan Arrojado, commander of Sulu’s joint task group said the operation will
help authorities get the hostages from their abductors.
The military operation will focus on the Abu Sayyaf Group,
not on the negotiators, Arrojado said.
Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and former cabinet
secretary Jess Dureza were the ones who persuaded Misuari to help the
government resolve the hostage-crisis, said the same source, adding that
Misuari accepted the challenge, convened a meeting and assigned men to reach
out to the leaders of the Abu Sayyaf Group who took custody of the kidnap-victims
in Sulu last Sunday.
Assessing Misuari’s capability, MNLF Islamic Command Council
(ICC) head Habib Nudjahad Hashim whose group is allied with Misuari’s MNLF
faction, told a TV network the MNLF founder could “negotiate for the safe
release of the kidnap-victims”.
“He has influence in Sulu,” said Hashim, adding that Misuari
has “listened to the request” of Duterte and Dureza.
Families of the kidnap victims and local authorities claimed
they have not yet received ransom demands from the Abu Sayyaf Group.
It is not known if emissaries of President Benigno Aquino
asked Duterte and Dureza to reach out to Misuari.
Earlier, Aquino’s Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma
said, “The administration accepts any assistance offered by organisations or by
individuals to solve this crime.”
Misuari has been in hiding in Sulu since he was implicated
as the mastermind of the 20-day siege of southern Zamboanga City
His allies wanted Aquino to grant Misuari amnesty so that he
could go to Saudi Arabia for
the tripartite review by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the
Philippine government, and the MNLF of the implementation of two political
settlements forged by the MNLF and the Philippine government in Libya in 1976, and in Manila
The Abu Sayyaf Group has been blamed for high-profile
kidnap-for-ransom activities that targeted foreign tourists and missionaries as
well as local residents. It is also accused of undertaking bombing and other
terror attacks in the south. It has links with Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast
Asian conduit of Al Qaida.
http://gulfnews.com/news/asia/philippines/philippines-hostage-crisis-rebel-leader-urges-truce-1.1592580
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