Moro rebel leader’s brother killed in clash

From The Gulf Today (Apr 14): Moro rebel leader’s brother killed in clash

A brother of a senior leader of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was killed in a gunbattle with a team of policemen sent to arrest him on orders of the court in Maguindanao province in volatile Mindanao.

Senior Inspector Macille Manzanos, the spokesman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) police, identified the victim as Mohaimen Abo, the younger brother of Ghazali Jaafar, the MILF vice chairman for political affairs.

Manzanos said Abo, also known as Commander Falcon and Ustadz Mohaimen, allegedly resisted when a police team was sent to arrest him in a village in the town of Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao on Tuesday afternoon.

“Abo resisted by firing at the law enforcers, triggering a brief firefight,” Manzanos said, adding the team were armed with arrest warrants issued by two regional courts where he was facing non-bailable criminal charges like murder, frustrated murder, kidnap-for-ransom and kidnapping with homicide.

Police recovered a.45 caliber pistol allegedly used by Abo in the gunfight and also arrested two of his bodyguards, according to Manzanos.

But Jaafar denounced the killing, saying his brother was a bonafide member of the MILF’s armed component.

He also accused the police of allegedly violating a truce agreement between the government and the MILF which went into effect in 1997 while their representatives were talking peace in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the third party facilitator.

Under the agreement, Jaafar said MILF members could only be arrested in co-ordination with the ceasefire committee and the Al-Hoc Joint Action Group of the government and the rebel group.

Aside from being a senior MILF leader, President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte also named Jaafar as the chairman of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission which has been expanded from 16 to 21 members.

The commission is mandated to draft a Bangsamoro Basic Law aimed at bringing just and lasting peace to resource-rich but troubled Southern Philippines.

The proposed law is to set up a new political entity that is to replace ARMM composed of the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi as well as Marawi City.

http://gulftoday.ae/portal/062bfe76-ad4b-4b60-b6f6-8947fd8a0b0b.aspx