Military on alert amid infighting among MILF rebels

Children join other Filipino Muslims during a rally near the Malacañang Wednesday to support the resumption of the peace talks in Malaysia between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. AP/Bullit Marquez

MANILA, Philippines—Philippine troops have been put on alert after a radical commander opposed to peace talks threatened to break away from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), an official said Wednesday.

Amid differences with the MILF’s main guerrilla force, Ameril Umbra Kato formed his own group of about 1,000 fighters a few months ago, but remains within the larger rebel group. He has opposed Malaysian-brokered talks with Manila, saying the negotiations have gone nowhere, chief rebel negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said.

Emissaries from the main rebel group have been sent to persuade Kato not to break off from them. Kato’s followers, who include about 100 armed men, have been joined by dozens of fleeing militiamen from a once-powerful clan accused of a 2009 massacre, but they have not committed any violence to sabotage the talks, Iqbal told The Associated Press.

Government negotiator Marvic Leonen said troops have been on alert amid the rebel infighting. The talks would continue despite the problem, he told a news conference, but refused to say however if the negotiations could bog down if Kato decides to separate and form a new rebel group.

“Just to assure the public, the armed forces and the police are in a state of defensive readiness,” Leonen said. “We are prepared for all contingencies.”

During a resumption of talks in February, Leonen said that he and other officials conveyed their concern to rebel negotiators about Kato. The guerrillas assured him that Kato still belonged to their group, according to Leonen.

He said, however, that the government was concerned how a breakaway by Kato would affect the rebel group’s ability to deliver on commitments under a possible peace pact.

Leonen said he will ask the rebels again for an update on their efforts to win back Kato when talks resume on March 29 to 30 in Malaysia.

The talks aim to peacefully settle a decades-old rebellion for self-rule by the 11,000-strong rebel front that has killed at least 120,000 combatants and civilians. Western countries led by the United States have backed the talks, hoping these could turn battlefields into economic hubs instead of possible breeding grounds for foreign and local extremists.

No other key commanders have joined Kato, but his force has recently been bolstered by dozens of fleeing militiamen from the Ampatuan clan, which came under fire after it was blamed by the government for the massacre of 58 civilians and journalists in November 2009 in southern Maguindanao province, Iqbal said.

Update.