Bunye: Air strikes will not affect peace talks with MILF
The military air strikes and artillery attack on a terrorist hideout in the marshlands of Maguindanao Thursday will not affect the peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye said Saturday.
In a statement posted at the government website www.ops.gov.ph, Bunye said the military attack was directed against suspected members of the Jemaah Islamiyah, an Indonesian-based terrorist group linked to al-Qaeda, and not against the MILF.
He said the military notifies the Joint Monitoring Team and the International Monitoring Team (IMT) before launching an attack in any part of the area of conflict in Mindanao.
What is good about the situation in Mindanao now is that there are two groups monitoring compliance by both the government and the MILF of the ceasefire agreement, Bunye said, adding that the monitors are duly informed of impending military operations.
"The military objective is clear: it has to go after the terrorists," Bunye said.
He pointed out that the fight against terrorism is not the government’s alone but the MILF’s as well. "So I do not see anything that would affect the peace talks with the MILF," he said.
In a separate statement, Bunye stressed that the government is for peace but peace that is not based on fear.
"The government is engaged with full sincerity in the peace talks with the MILF but it shall continue to use its full might in meeting the threat of terrorism," he said.
He said the target of the military strikes were "terrorist cells that pose a threat not only to national security but to the cause of peace itself."
abs-cbnNEWS.com monitor (OPS)