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Protest greets US troops training in Philippines
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-01-17 14:05
Protesters chanted anti-American slogans outside a Philippine army camp on
Tuesday as 30 elite U.S. soldiers began counter-terrorism drills with local
troops in the heartland of the largest Muslim rebel group.
The United States, Manila's closest security ally, has been a major source of
military assistance for the poorly funded Philippine armed forces in the form of
training and hardware such as assault rifles, radio sets and body armour.
Outside the camp in Carmen town on Mindanao island, anti-riot police backed
by soldiers and a fire truck blocked a 35-vehicle convoy of about 5,000
protesters demanding that U.S. troops leave Muslim areas in the south of the
mainly Roman Catholic country.
"These training activities were designed to enhance skills and capabilities
of Filipino soldiers," Colonel Ruperto Pabustan, a brigade commander, told a
news conference after the opening ceremonies for the month-long exercises.
Arrangements had been made with the ceasefire panel of the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF) to avoid any conflict with the Muslim separatist rebels,
he added.
Pabustan said about 260 Philippine soldiers, assigned to fight communist
guerrillas in the Davao area of Mindanao, were taking part in the training,
which will focus on marksmanship, combat lifesaving and small-unit tactics.
Major William Nagel, commander of the U.S. commandos, said his soldiers had
seen action in Afghanistan and Iraq before helping to train soldiers from more
than 25 allied countries.
"I don't see any problem on the safety of my troops as long as they
(protesters) don't interfere in our exercises," Nagel told reporters.
MUSLIM SOIL
The convoy of protesters, denouncing the training as a form of intervention
in Philippine affairs, went through nine police and army checkpoints but were
stopped outside the army camp.
They chanted "U.S. imperialist, number one terrorist" and other slogans, sang
revolutionary songs and waved placards before police allowed them to hold a
rally at the town's public park.
"We don't want U.S. troops on Muslim soil," said Zaynab Ampatuan, one of the
protest organisers.
"There are no terrorists in our communities. We fear an increase in human
rights violations as more U.S. troops are expected to arrive in Mindanao in the
guise of non-combat missions."
Philippine army officials said the U.S. troops would be confined to the
training camp to avoid any possible controversy similar to a rape case in the
northern part of the country.
Four U.S. Marines, who had taken part in other exercises in October, have
been charged with raping a 22-year-old Filipino woman in a van at a former U.S.
Navy base northwest of Manila.
Pabustan said the U.S. troops now training in Mindanao were expected to visit
two villages, including a farming community of former Muslim rebels, to provide
medical, dental and veterinary services as part of the programme's humanitarian
mission.
A truce with the MILF has been holding since July 2003 and Malaysian-brokered
talks to end the conflict are due to resume this month in Kuala Lumpur.
The insurgency by the 12,000-member MILF has killed more than 120,000 people
since the late 1960s and stunted development of resource-rich Mindanao.
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