Numer Bibliospisu - T3

w języku angielskim


BALIK-TERRORISM:
THE RETURN OF THE ABU SAYYAF

FOREWORD
Since early 2002, U.S. forces have provided training and intelligence
support to members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines
(AFP) as a component of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. The
AFP have been engaged in combat with the Abu Sayyaf, a group
previously known for its brutal, though hardly political, kidnappings.
Though “Abu Sayyaf” is usually proceeded with the words the “al
Qaeda-linked,” there was little tangible evidence of such a link from
the mid-1990s to 2002. From its founding in 1991 by Afghan veteran
Abdurrajak Janjalani through Ramzi Yousef’s Bojinka Plot in 1995,
the links were clear and convincing. However, in 2002, the leaders
of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), al Qaeda’s regional affiliate responsible
for the bombings of the Sari Nightclub in Bali (October 2002), the
J. W. Marriott Hotel (August 2003), and the Australian Embassy
(September 2004), were reeling from a number of arrests and
setbacks. JI’s leadership ordered their Mindanao-based operatives
to restore ties to the Abu Sayaaf. Since then, the group has waged a
steady and consistent campaign of urban terrorism. Though they are
not the greatest threat to Philippine security, they have the ability to
create economic instability. Their terrorist capabilities have steadily
improved.
The conflict against the Abu Sayyaf is complicated by the
ongoing peace process between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front
(MILF), a 10,000-12,000 man strong insurgent force fighting for an
independent Islamic state since 1978, and the Government of the
Republic of the Philippines (GRP). The MILF had clear ties to al
Qaeda beginning in the late 1980s when they dispatched troops to
Afghanistan for training. Later, the MILF availed itself to al Qaeda
by opening their camps to al Qaeda trainers and members of JI.
Although the MILF deny these ties, they persist to this day. MILF
members provide training and sanctuary to JI members, giving the
terrorist organization resiliency. For the MILF, it is a show of Islamic
solidarity, as well as a hedge, should the peace process fail. But the
Abu Sawaf Group (ASG) has taken advantage of this. Members
have moved into MILF-controlled regions and are trained in MILF
iv
camps alongside JI members. The MILF uses the ASG when it needs
plausible deniability and cover for its terrorist operations. At some
point, it becomes impossible to clearly distinguish between these
groups: ASG members may perpetrate the terrorist act, often with
the help of MILF or JI members; they were trained in MILF camps
by Indonesian JI instructors. The Philippine government downplays
this triangular relationship, for fear of upsetting the peace process of
the MILF, limiting U.S. policy options. Yet, the mutual relationship
between the groups has given JI a new lease on life, and perpetuated
the terrorist threat to the region.
This monograph provides an in-depth analysis of the ASG and
the triangular relationship between them, the MILF and JI. It seeks
to understand the regional impact that this group’s resurgence will
have on the war on terror in Southeast Asia, and the impact on
America and her allies. The Strategic Studies Institute is pleased to
offer this monograph