The conflict on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, centered on the city of Marawi, with U.S. military involvement, continues long past its supposed end.
The conflict on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, centered on the city of Marawi, with U.S. military involvement, continues long past its supposed end.
President Rodrigo Duterte has now obtained from the Philippine parliament an extension of the initial 60-day period of martial law on Mindanao, to the end of the year. In his usual brusque, vulgar manner, Duterte predicted easy victory for the now some 3,000 Philippine troops involved in the battle for Marawi, backed up by hundreds of U.S. forces and surveillance aircraft.
So far, an estimated 97 Philippine troops have been killed, along with 45 civilians and a claimed 405 rebels. Some 300 hostages are being held by the rebel forces. The city of Marawi has been heavily damaged and its inhabitants scattered. The combatants come mostly from a longtime rebel group, Abu Sayyaf, a family group called Maute, and, reportedly, assorted foreign combatants.
Strife between the central government of the largely Roman Catholic Philippines and the Muslims of Mindanao is an old story, predating the proclamation by the Islamic State of the Philippines as a caliphate in 2015. An accord between the government and the Islamists in 1996 was supposed to bring fighting to an end. It fell through after five years. Then there was the deal between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in 2014, which the fighting in Marawi has shown not to have been effective.
Rather than perpetuate the carnage in Marawi and subject the people of the island of Mindanao, the Philippines’ second largest, to the joys of martial law for six more months, it might make sense for Duterte to talk to the Abu Sayyaf leader, Isnilon Hapilon. He reportedly is holed up in a mosque in Marawi. An attempt should be made to broker a ceasefire and an accord. Yet, Duterte’s reputation for brutality, exhibited in his campaign against drug dealers and users, would not make that easy, given that it does not inspire confidence. Nevertheless, he enjoys strong majorities in the Philippine parliament; its vote Saturday to extend martial law was overwhelming. After his annual state of the union speech, Duterte said the government counteroffensive will continue “until the last terrorist is taken out.” Regarding drug offenders: they will end up in “jail or hell,” he said.
As for the United States, the American forces should be withdrawn from the Philippines promptly, putting them as far away from this meritless conflict as possible, in spite of its “Islamist enemy” pretentions. This is an old intra-Philippine conflict, not one which should engage the United States.
— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette