PH sends ship to Sabah

The followers of the sultan of Sulu holed up in a village in Sabah, eastern Malaysia, could be flushed out Monday after the expiration on Sunday of a 48-hour extension of the Malaysian deadline for them to leave and the failure of Malacañang’s back-channel efforts to solve the standoff peacefully.

The Philippine government sent a humanitarian ship to Sabah Sunday night to bring home the women and children among the sultan’s armed followers holed up in Tanduao village in Lahad Datu town and encircled by Malaysian security forces, but the sultanate said no one would go with the mercy mission.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a statement that the ship would sail from Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, before midnight and stand by off Lahad Datu as Malaysian authorities talked with the sultan’ followers.

The DFA said it informed the Malaysian Embassy last Saturday that the Philippine government was sending a ship to Sabah. Malaysian foreign minister Anifah Aman told AFP, however, that he had “yet to be informed on this matter.” Ministry officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

The vessel will sail for 11 to 12 hours and is expected to arrive in Lahud Datu at noon Monday. Aboard the mercy ship were Filipino Muslim leaders, social workers and medical personnel, Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario  said, stressing that the government “was deeply concerned” about the presence of women among the group.

Del Rosario called on “the entire group to go back to their homes and families, even at the same time, we are addressing the core issues they have raised.”

“Please do so for your own safety,” he added.

An Inquirer source said Philippine officials hoped the Malaysians would hold their fire as the mercy mission was going on “for the sake of innocent lives.”

Philippine Ambassador to Malaysia J. Eduardo Malaya said in a text message to the Inquirer: “Arrangements have been made with Malaysian authorities for the entry of the humanitarian mission to Lahad Datu.”

“Our priority is the safety and security of the women and other civilians in the group. We thank the Malaysian government for allowing the ship’s entry and their shared concern for the well-being of the civilians,” Malaya said.

An Inquirer source said the ship would also pick up any of the Sulu sultan’s armed followers who would choose to go home.

No one’s going

The Sulu sultanate said Sunday night that it was not notified about the humanitarian mission.

But Abraham Idjirani, secretary general and spokesman of the sultanate, said the Sulu sultan was thanking President Aquino for the humanitarian assistance.

Idjirani said, however, that the women among the sultan’s followers in Tanduao were “determined to stay with their husbands.”

“They won’t leave,” Idjirani told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

Del Rosario had requested Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman to work out a four-day extension of the Feb. 22 deadline to give government emissaries more time to convince Sultan Jamalul Kiram III to order his 250 followers in Tanduao to stand down and return home.

But all the Malaysian government was willing to grant was a 48-hour extension, which expired Sunday with the back-channel contact the Aquino administration had hoped could convince Jamalul to call his followers back home still in Manila.

The contact, Sultan Bantilan Esmail Kiram III, a brother of Jamalul, had changed his mind about going to Sabah to convince the sultan’s followers to lay down their arms and return home.

It remained unclear on Sunday why Esmail changed his mind about helping end the standoff without bloodshed.

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/65495/ph-sends-ship-to-sabah-to-fetch-sultans-followers