Early this morning an army of around 400 took hostage of at least 20 people. The situation began when government forces ran into armed rebels heading to Zamboanga City by boat approximately 4:30 this morning. Six people including a policeman, a navy serviceman, and four civilians were killed as a result of these forces clashing. A total of 6 districts were infiltrated by this army totaling 800,000 people. Philippine police and armed forces have put blockades in the area. The mayor, Isabelle Climaco-Salazar, stated that the group was planning on marching on city hall. Due to these blockades, an additional 200 people are stranded in the city. They aren't counting the stranded people as hostages. City officials are hoping to come into contact with the rebels, who are believed to be from the Moro National Liberation Front, to discuss the releasing of the hostages. So far no demands have been made from this army.
It was mentioned in the article that this group had been left out of a recent wealth sharing agreement with another insurgent group by the name of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front has been fighting for decades to set up an independent Islamic state on the island of Mindanao. The wealth sharing agreement was supposed to help peace come about but that hasn't seemed to be happening. The Moro National Liberation Front was supposed to benefit from the island that Moro Islamic Liberation Front had been fighting for. Noticing they were left out of the initial agreement clearly seems to be the cause of the actions that took place today. Possibly this can all be sorted out once this situation is handled but in the meantime peace doesn't seem to be possible.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/09/world/asia/philippines-muslim-rebels-unrest/index.html?hpt=wo_c2
Kaelin Graham
9/9/2013
6:57 pm
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