Security threats to Philippine elections
Posted by ashertrix , Sunday, May 9, 2010 10:20 PM
MANILA, Philippines—Nearly a hundred people have been killed in violence linked to Monday's national elections in the Philippines, according to police statistics.
However, violence also occurs regularly outside election campaigns. The following are some of the troubled country's most feared groups.
New People's Army (NPA): The 5,000-strong armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, waging a 41-year Maoist rebellion, has been ambushing security patrols including units delivering election materials.
The military say the NPA also extorts money from candidates and attacks those who refuse to pay.
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF): The 12,000-member group has been fighting a 32-year armed campaign for a separate Muslim state in the southern region of Mindanao that has left more than 150,000 people dead.
The MILF has been observing a ceasefire amid talks hosted by neighboring Malaysia, but is balking at a proposed peace treaty and wants to deal with the new government after the vote instead.
Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF): The rival to the MILF signed a peace treaty with the government in 1996 to end 24 years of separatist rebellion.
Several hundred members were brought into the Philippine military and police, but the rest refused to disarm.
Abu Sayyaf: Based in Mindanao and listed by the United States as a terrorist organization, its roughly 400 militants are blamed for the country's worst terrorist attacks.
These included the bombing of a ferry on Manila Bay that killed more than 100 people in 2004, as well as a string of kidnappings for ransom.
Rajah Solaiman Group: An Abu Sayyaf offshoot of Filipino Christians who converted to Islam. Most of its senior leaders are in jail after the government foiled its supposed plot to amass large volumes of explosives with which to bomb the US embassy in Manila.
Jemaah Islamiyah: Campaigning to set up an Islamic caliphate across Southeast Asia, the group maintains small cells in the country's south where they shelter and train with local armed groups such as the Abu Sayyaf and rogue units of the MILF and MNLF.
Political warlords: The government says more than 100 Filipino politicians lead "private armed groups."
The politicians say they use these private armies for protection, but they are also used to eliminate opponents and intimidate the electorate.
The Ampatuan family, a Muslim warlord clan in Mindanao, is accused of being behind the November 2009 massacre of 57 people in the country's worst single election-related attack.
However, violence also occurs regularly outside election campaigns. The following are some of the troubled country's most feared groups.
New People's Army (NPA): The 5,000-strong armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, waging a 41-year Maoist rebellion, has been ambushing security patrols including units delivering election materials.
The military say the NPA also extorts money from candidates and attacks those who refuse to pay.
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF): The 12,000-member group has been fighting a 32-year armed campaign for a separate Muslim state in the southern region of Mindanao that has left more than 150,000 people dead.
The MILF has been observing a ceasefire amid talks hosted by neighboring Malaysia, but is balking at a proposed peace treaty and wants to deal with the new government after the vote instead.
Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF): The rival to the MILF signed a peace treaty with the government in 1996 to end 24 years of separatist rebellion.
Several hundred members were brought into the Philippine military and police, but the rest refused to disarm.
Abu Sayyaf: Based in Mindanao and listed by the United States as a terrorist organization, its roughly 400 militants are blamed for the country's worst terrorist attacks.
These included the bombing of a ferry on Manila Bay that killed more than 100 people in 2004, as well as a string of kidnappings for ransom.
Rajah Solaiman Group: An Abu Sayyaf offshoot of Filipino Christians who converted to Islam. Most of its senior leaders are in jail after the government foiled its supposed plot to amass large volumes of explosives with which to bomb the US embassy in Manila.
Jemaah Islamiyah: Campaigning to set up an Islamic caliphate across Southeast Asia, the group maintains small cells in the country's south where they shelter and train with local armed groups such as the Abu Sayyaf and rogue units of the MILF and MNLF.
Political warlords: The government says more than 100 Filipino politicians lead "private armed groups."
The politicians say they use these private armies for protection, but they are also used to eliminate opponents and intimidate the electorate.
The Ampatuan family, a Muslim warlord clan in Mindanao, is accused of being behind the November 2009 massacre of 57 people in the country's worst single election-related attack.
Posted in
Post a Comment