A caliphate on our doorstep

From the Austrailian (Mar 28): A caliphate on our doorstep

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s warning that a new Islamic caliphate could be declared in the lawless southern Philippines should leave no doubt about the urgency of the need to deal with the jihadist threat on our doorstep. The signs, as Ms Bishop has indicated, are ominous: Isnilon Hapilon, leader of the Abu Sayyaf Islamic terrorist group on the island of Mindanao, has pledged loyalty to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Like Baghdadi, he has been declared an “emir”, which Ms Bishop says suggests Islamic State may be about to formally declare a caliphate in the southern Philippines.

This move is said to have boosted support for Abu Sayyaf among Islamic extremists on Mindanao. Reports indicate hundreds of trained Islamic State fighters recruited from Southeast Asia to go to Syria and Iraq will return not to their home countries but to link up with Abu Sayyaf on Mindanao. In recent months, there have been Philippines police accounts of a specialist Islamic State bomb maker from Morocco and Uighur Islamic militants from China arriving clandestinely. Malaysian, Indonesian, Bangladeshi and even Rohingya militants from the oppressed Muslim minority in Myanmar also are said to be among those recruited.

Ms Bishop discussed the growing threat with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte in his home city of Davao City, on Mindanao, earlier this month. Mr Duterte has made no bones about his belief that the biggest threat facing his country is “terrorism … it’s sure to come”.

At last week’s Washington meeting of the coalition fighting Islamic State, Ms Bishop sounded the alarm among fellow foreign ministers, warning that, as the caliphate in Iraq and Syria faces defeat, “we don’t want to see it re-emerge elsewhere in the world, otherwise we’ll be back in a few years talking about how to defeat a caliphate in the southern Philippines”. A caliphate in our region would be a disaster for the fight against Islamic extremism. After Ms Bishop’s warning, Manila’s regional partners, particularly Australia and the US, must do all that is possible to ensure that it does not become a reality.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/editorials/a-caliphate-on-our-doorstep/news-story/9737703222f076f82645bac2a4d190b6