Peace Update: Islamic militants admit alliance with leftist group | Sun.Star

Islamic militants admit alliance with leftist group | Sun.Star: "As early as 2000, the MILF and the NDFP have already made public the tactical alliance that both fronts had, but today, the MILF emphatically declared: 'We have not forged just a tactical alliance with the NDF but a political alliance -- including the rejectionist group.'

Also in 2000, MILF chair Ibrahim Murad described the tactical alliance to be working very well among field combatants who mutually support each other militarily or logistically as demanded by the situation on the ground.

The NDFP described itself in its website at www.nfdp.net as the revolutionary united front organization of the Filipino people fighting for national independence and for the democratic rights of the people.

Since 1992, the NDFP has been holding peace talks with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines to address the roots of the armed conflict.

MILF, on the other hand, is the largest and now most influential Islamic movement in the southern islands of Philippines. It has embarked on peace negotiation with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines with the facilitation of the Government of Malaysia since 2001.

It is a religious and political organization made up of Islamists engaged in liberation struggle based in their traditional homeland embracing Mindanao, its adjacent islands, and the Sulu archipelago."