So many issues demand the new administration’s attention but it must not lose sight of one problem that lies at the center of peace and development in Mindanao – the jihadist groups trying to establish an Islamic State (IS) base in the southwestern part of the island.
Military sources said the core group is the Abu Sayyaf, which has been joined by dozens of Indonesians, Malaysians, and Arabs from the Middle East. Two weeks ago, the Armed Forces, in an artillery attack followed by gunbattles on the ground, engaged the group in an area near Butig, Lanao del Sur, and one Indonesian was reported killed.
Military operations are now underway in Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, and Sulu, Gen. Eduardo Ano, chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), said. Fourteen battalions of government troops are engaged in a search-and-destroy campaign. The AFP, he said expects to defeat the Abu Sayyaf in six months.
For years the Abu Sayyaf has carried out its operations in Mindanao, kidnapping many foreigners, holding them for ransom, and beheading them if their families fail to deliver. Only a few days ago, the Abu Sayyaf came out with a video showing a German hostage, vowing to kill him if P30-million ransom is not paid by February 26.
The video showed the German, Jurgen Kantner, pleading for his life, in the same way previous foreign hostages had pleaded for their lives. Two Canadians – John Ridsdel and Robert Hall – were killed in April and June, 2016, seven months after they were kidnapped from a resort island in the Davao Gulf. Their companions – a Filipina and a Norwegian – were freed soon afterwards and police sources said the Abu Sayyaf got P30 million for the Norwegian.
The February 26 deadline is just two days away. We will soon know if the military campaign against the Abu Sayyaf and its jihadist allies from Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Middle East has them on the run after two months of operations. Or shall we have another foreign victim of the Abu Sayyaf, who continue to defy all efforts to eliminate them and are even gaining adherents from various parts of the world?
We continue to hope that the Armed Forces with its 14 battalions will be able to force the Abu Sayyaf and their jihadist cohorts out of their bases in Mindanao. We cannot allow the Philippines to be the next site of Islamic State operations after Syria and Iraq.
http://news.mb.com.ph/2017/02/24/afp-in-all-out-drive-vs-abu-sayyaf-is-cohorts/
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