Wednesday 17th August, 2011 (Source: San Diego Union-Tribune)
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines' largest Muslim rebel group has given a radical commander with hundreds of fighters a final warning to stop a mutiny or face expulsion, which would expose his breakaway force to possible military assaults.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front's central committee plans to issue a resolution declaring that Ameril Umbra Kato is no longer a member unless he returns to its fold, an unlikely prospect since he has rejected earlier calls to rejoin, the group's vice chairman Ghazali Jaafar said Wednesday.
Philippine officials have expressed concern over the infighting in the 11,000-strong Moro rebel group, which they say cast doubts on its ability to enforce any future accord in peace talks brokered by Malaysia.
The guerrillas have said the uprising by Kato, who used to head one of their largest and most battle-tested commands, was an internal problem they were trying to defuse and asked the military not to attack him while they tried to woo him and his armed men back.
Jaafar said an expulsion will mean Kato is no longer covered by preliminary agreements the rebel group has forged with the government, including a truce that shields rebels from military assaults.
"Personally, I already consider him and his men a lost command," Jaafar told The Associated Press. "When the resolution is issued very soon, he'll be officially declared outside the group, fighting without any cause."
Presidential adviser on the peace talks Teresita Deles did not comment on reports of Kato's impending ouster but said government negotiators would ask guerrillas about his status when peace talks resume on Aug. 22 in Malaysia.
Kato, who is in his late 60s and leads a breakaway force of 200 to 300 fighters, resigned from the Moro rebel group last December, saying he was too old. However, he later formed a rebel faction called the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters that refused to recognize the current rebel leadership, Jaafar said.
Kato has also opposed the main rebel group's peace talks with the government and called for jihad, or holy war, for a separate Muslim state.
After rejecting the rebel group's peaceful overtures for months, Kato angered rebel leaders recently when he allowed one of his breakaway commanders to attack another commander with the main guerrilla group over an old land feud, rebel spokesman Von Al Haq said.
The weeklong clashes between the two commanders killed at least 14 combatants and displaced more than 3,000 villagers in Datu Piang town in southern Maguindanao province. At least four guerrillas belonging to the main group were mutilated by Kato's men during the clashes, Al Haq said.
"That was the final straw," Al Haq said. "He sent in reinforcements to his commander while we were trying to solve the land dispute by dialogue."
Al Haq said emissaries were making last-minute efforts to persuade several commanders under Kato to return to the main group.
Philippine security officials have accused Kato in the past of providing refuge to members of the Southeast Asian militant network Jemaah Islamiyah and Filipino militants like Usman Basit who have been sought by U.S. and Philippine authorities in connection with deadly bomb attacks.
More than 120,000 people have died in the decadeslong conflict for Muslim self-rule in the country's south, homeland of minority Muslims in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines. A cease-fire between the military and the main Moro rebel group, which dropped its demand for independence last year, has largely held.