The MILF wants to cancel elections — they want an Islamic state, and that’s all they will settle for. “Thousands flee fighting in southern Philippines,” from Reuters, August 11:
Fierce clashes between Muslim separatists and government troops have displaced nearly 130,000 people in the southern Philippines, officials said on Monday (local time), but the government has vowed to press on with today’s local election.
The separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) had called for elections in the six province Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao to be cancelled because they want a new Muslim homeland with more political powers established as part of a comprehensive peace deal.
Air Force planes bombed suspected MILF positions in North Cotabato province on Sunday (local time) after hundreds of guerrillas refused to leave Catholic farmlands they have occupied since last month.
But the military said the escalating violence would not halt voting in local elections in Muslim areas elsewhere on the resource-rich southern island of Mindanao.
“Fighting has not spilled over to the Muslim areas,” Brigadier-General Jorge Segovia, an Army spokesman, said.
“We have sufficient forces to contain the violence in North Cotabato.”
Nearly 130,000 people have fled their homes and more than half are staying in temporary shelters.
Dozens of houses have been destroyed, a disaster official said….