“We have a final peace agreement already with the MNLF and we are not against the MNLF… What happened in Zamboanga [was done by] factions of the MNLF, that they used violence to advance their goals which, to us, is unacceptable,” said AFP information chief Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala on Tuesday.
“We believe that the MNLF still abides by the final peace agreement and that what happened in Zamboanga [was done] only [by] those misguided by Nur Misuari,” he added.
Misuari and some of his men are wanted for the attack, which left over 200 people dead, most of them MNLF fighters.
Although not physically present during the attack, Misuari allegedly ordered the siege as he accused the government of disregarding them in the peace negotiations it is conducting with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
The rebels claimed last year’s signing of a Bangsamoro Framework Agreement between the government and the MILF sidelined the peace agreement the government signed with the MNLF in 1996. — Marc Jayson Cayabyab/BM, GMA News
