Asia Security
Monitor
No. 15, February 21, 2003
American Foreign Policy Council, Washington, D.C.
Laskar Jihad consolidating in Papua;
Malaysia rallies opposition against war in Iraq
Editors:
Al Santoli, Mahlet Getachew
Associate Editors: Fausto Hamdan, Christina Perrone
- February 11:
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- U.S. air and ground forces are engaged in battle with the largest force of Afghan rebels to have surfaced in nearly a year, reports the Wall Street Journal. The rebels assembled in Pakistan with heavy weapons and sophisticated communications equipment. They reportedly have enough supplies to set up a base camp south of Spin Baldak. Hundreds more extremists are mobilizing across the border in Waziristan, the Pakistani tribal belt, for a spring offensive calculated to coincide with a U.S. assault on Iraq. Western diplomats in Kabul, Afghan leaders, and secular Pakistani politicians are convinced that Pakistan is now pursuing a duplicitous strategy. Afghan officials and U.S. army officers also strongly believe that elements of Pakistan's intelligence services and its religious parties are facilitating the Taliban revival.
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- February 18:
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- In an effort to unite countries to stand in opposition to the U.S. war with Iraq, Malaysia will host a Summit for the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), reports Malaysia's
The Star. While reinforcing Malaysia's opposition to the war, Prime Minister Mohamad Mahathir declared that Malaysia does not support exile for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the Malaysian Daily Express reports. In addition, the business community in Malaysia has expressed fear that the war would greatly affect the crude palm oil and timber market as freight and insurance charges will rise.
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February 19:
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Fighting between government forces and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) separatists has displaced nearly 80,000 people in Mindanao, reports the
Manila Times. The Armed Forces of the Philippines is attempting to capture MILF chairman Hashim Salamat and a major MILF base in North Cotabato. According to government sources, 157 rebels, five soldiers and one militiaman have been killed in the past week. Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, MILF peace panel chairman, insists that MILF forces in the area will refuse a truce until the military pulls out of the area.
Philippine troops have seized documents detailing alleged MILF links to al Qaeda from the house of MILF leader Hashim Salamat, reports the
Philippines Star. Mostly written in Arabic, the documents contain names of suspected benefactors in the Middle East, Africa and Pakistan, along with manuals for assassination, ambush, and bombing techniques. In the past, the MILF has acknowledged training members of the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Isalmiah group.
The South China Morning Post reports the mainly Christian Papua border area between Papua New Guinea and Indonesia has become home to Islamic fighters of the Muslim extremist group Laskar Jihad. The northern border area is reported to have twelve training camps for Islamic militants backed by the Kopassus special forces of the Indonesian military. Johannes Bonay, a prominent human rights activist states, "There are armed men and you don't know whether they are militia, [Indonesian military], OPM [Free Papuan Movement guerillas] or Laskar Jihad." In settlements close to the border, Javanese members of Laskar Jihad have been recruiting and training trans-migrants and local Papuans.
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© 2003, American Foreign Policy Council.
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