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Manila
Asks U.S. To Delay Deployment
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| "We are groping for a correct solution to the legal problem," said Reyes |
MANILA,
March 1 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Though U.S. Defence
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said no final decision has been taken on
whether his troops should be allowed to fight Abu Sayyaf rebels,
Manila asked Washington to delay deploying troops until after the
looming Iraq war, a newspaper reported Saturday, March 1.
Quoting
unidentified presidential sources, the Philippines Star
newspaper said President Gloria Arroyo's top security advisers made
the recommendation at a meeting Thursday, February 27.
"The
decision is to put off (the U.S. deployment) for now until the
U.S.-Iraq war is over," Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted a
presidential source as saying.
The
report came as Philippines Defence Secretary Angelo Reyes was on a
visit to Washington hoping to establish rules for the U.S. troop
deployment in the southern island of Jolo, where they are to advise
and train soldiers in the hunt for Abu Sayyaf guerrillas.
A
meeting Friday, February 28, with his U.S. counterpart Rumsfeld made
little headway in resolving the constitutional crisis that could
result should U.S. troops engage in combat in the Philippines.
"We
are groping for a correct solution to the legal problem," Reyes
told reporters before meeting Rumsfeld in Washington.
Rumsfeld
said: "The goal is to have the Philippines military capable and
successful in dealing with the terrorist problems that exist in that
country.
"To
the extent we can be helpful to them in a variety of different ways
that are consistent with their circumstance, we want to do that,"
he added.
For
his part, Lieutenant General Narciso Abaya, head of military forces in
the south, said the U.S. troops could arrive in Jolo by April.
That,
in effect, caused upset in the Philippines, where the constitution
bars foreign troops from combat, though tackling rebels is a priority
for the government.
National
Security Adviser Roilo Golez denied the report, saying the Muslim
leaders merely relayed concerns that residents would be hostile hosts
to any U.S. soldiers deployed in Jolo.
Golez
told AFP the Muslim leaders were asked to stress to their constituents
that the U.S. troops would not be engaged in combat in the south,
which would violate the Philippines constitution, and stressed there
was no mention of a delay in their deployment.
Suggestions
last week from the Pentagon that 1,700 U.S. troops could take up
weapons in the battle with Abu Sayyaf triggered
a furore in the Philippines.
Arroyo
on Friday gave the military a 90-day deadline to crush the Abu Sayyaf
rebels and put an end to their threats once and for all, noting that
she was confident the Abu Sayyaf could be defeated within the allotted
time.
The
group has been kidnapping foreigners and holding them for ransom in
the southern islands of Jolo and Basilan for years.
They
are still holding three Indonesian seamen and four Filipina Christian
preachers in the jungles of Jolo.
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