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Cease Fire – 2001

As stipulated in the peace agreement, a regional plebiscite on the expansion of the four-province Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) was held in August. Only one province, the Muslim majority island of Basilan, voted to join the ARMM. Nur Misuari, MNLF founder and ARMM governor, opposed the legitimacy of the plebiscite election. In November, a new faction of MNLF supporters loyal to the original goals or vision of Nur Misuari attacked an AFP installation in Zamboanga and Jolo island which resulted in 140 deaths. Nur Misuari was arrested on entering Sabah, Malaysia and was held by AFP security forces in the Philippines.¹

Though Nur Misuari’s rhetoric may have triggered the violence, and the identity of the new faction is based on allegiance to the original Nur Misuari vision, Misuari denounced the violence and attempted to flee. Hence, this event could be considered a ceasefire violation or a new conflict involving a new splinter group. Fotini, who studies group fragmentation, considers it a new conflict with a new faction, as does UCDP.²

The Uppsala University Conflict Database reports minor armed conflict in 2001 between the GRP and MNLF-NM (a new faction of the original MNLF group) leading to roughly 200 deaths.³

1. “Philippines,” Amnesty International Report, 2002, accessed July 30, 2012, http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/3cf4bc0f0.html.
2. Fotini Christia, Alliance formation in civil wars (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012).
3. “UCDP Conflict Encyclopedia.”