Word: milf
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...separatist fighting in the island's north, which left dozens of civilians dead and hundreds of thousands displaced. Mindanao, long home to a simmering insurgency, exploded into violence in August after the country's Supreme Court halted an agreement between government negotiators and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that would have set boundaries for a semi-autonomous Muslim homeland. In apparent frustration with the stalled negotiations, two rogue MILF commanders have been accused of leading their fighters on a murderous rampage in two nearby provinces...
...local rebel leader in particular - known as Commander Bravo - has a reputation for defying MILF leadership to carry out daring, bloody military strikes. In 2003, during the last major flare-up of violence in the area, Bravo's soldiers robbed and murdered at least 16 civilians. In interviews, Bravo said he staged the attack in order to put pressure on the government to negotiate. In 2007, the insurgent leader threatened to attack government offices in the region after the MILF invited government personnel in to investigate the killing of 14 Philippine marines, 10 of whom were beheaded, allegedly by fighters...
Less than a week after the court's decision, MILF insurgents attacked 15 towns on Aug. 11 in Mindanao's North Cotabato province, killing at least nine people. Around 130,000 people were displaced by the North Cotabato violence, according the World Food Program, which is supplying refugees in the area. Fighting soon spread to neighboring areas, driven, says Lingga, by frustration with the political deadlock in peace negotiations...
...television interview, MILF chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim called on insurgents to end their attacks. But military spokesman Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres says the group may have lost control of its more radical military field commanders. "We consider these groups just plain criminals because they have defied the orders of MILF leadership," he says of the rogue insurgents. "We feel it's our responsibility to go after them and bring them to the bar of justice...
...MILF's apparent inability to rein in its local commanders could also seriously undercut any efforts to return to the negotiating table. On Aug. 21, President Arroyo announced that the government would no longer negotiate with armed rebel groups - a major departure from the policy of engagement that led to the Aug. 4 accord with the MILF. "These recent developments in the south have led to a change in the basic premise of our peace efforts," she said during a speech Thursday. "The focus of our talks shall shift from the armed groups to the communities...