On January 22, 2025, several gunmen coordinated an attack in Sumisip town inside a Basilan province. Deployed to prevent a U.N. livelihood project in the southern Philippines, the gunmen ambushed an army truck meant to secure the project and killed two soldiers while wounding 12. The military reported that the attackers burnt the army truck, and were identified as members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is the largest Muslim rebel group in the Philippines and has vowed to establish an independent Islamic state. Currently, they have forged relationships with Al Qaeda, Jemaah Islamyiyah, Abu Sayyaf, and other Islamic groups. Although the group and the government have fought for four decades, which has resulted in the killing of more than 120,000 combatants and civilians, the MILF and the Philippine government have reached peace deals in 2014. In the deal, more than 40,000 members of MILF agreed to end the conflict and return to their normal lives in exchange for livelihood packages from the government. When confronted about these attacks, the MILF’s military front vowed to hunt down the attackers and take action against those who had participated. A Philippine general addressed the situation stating, “Accountability is critical to maintaining trust and ensuring the integrity of the peace process.” Former MILF chief Ahod Ebrahim, who now runs a self-ruling Muslim-populated area created after the peace agreement, expressing that he was “deeply saddened by the unfortunate encounter.”
In the end, the U.N. visit was aborted due to the conflict, and the U.N. office in the Philippines did not respond to the request for comment yet. Typically, the U.N. helps the Philippines uphold its promises toward its international treaty obligations and its development goals. The U.N. does this through providing policy guidance and focusing on the country’s equity. This reasoning may explain the reasonings for the attacks, but it is unknown so far. Although the MILF and government’s peace treaty was 11 years ago, the lengthy process of decommissioning the weapons of thousands of MILF fighters has not been completed. Tensions still remain, and it will take through communication to ensure that this event does not lead to more resurfacing conflicts. All parties have been urged to remain as calm as possible by Ebrahim as they work towards addressing the incident. Philippine Army commander Lieutenant general Roy Galdilo shared that him and his forces were working closely with the government to ensure that, “the perpetrators of this treacherous act face the full consequences of their actions.”
Written by Claire Liu
