Philippines: Duterte seeks MILF help against ISIS

Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte has asked Moro and Communist rebels to join the fight against the country’s ISIS affiliate.

The unprecedented move on Sunday came ahead of a Supreme Court challenge by six opposition Congress members yesterday to Mr Duterte’s declaration of martial law in the southern island of Mindanao.

Troops are fighting ISIS-affiliated Abu Sayyaf extremists who seized the central Mindanao city Marawi two weeks ago.

Congressman Edcel Lagman, leader of the six, said the the state of emergency was unjustified as there had not been a revolution or invasion.

Several foreign jihadis have been identified among militants killed in the battle to recapture the city of 200,000 residents, almost all of whom have fled.

On Sunday Mr Duterte said he had accepted an offer from Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) chairman Nur Misuari to integrate 2,000-3,000 guerillas into the Armed Forces of the Philippines to help fight the Maute group — Abu Sayyaf’s strongest ally.

And he called on the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the communist New Peoples Army (NPA) to follow suit.

“If you want to join us, you are also invited including the regulars of the NPA,” he said. “Just bring the guns, I will replace them with new ones, and you’ll be enlisted in the armed forces.”

On Monday Mr Duterte met MILF leaders in the southern Mindanao city of Davao.

A MILF statement on Tuesday said chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim welcomed sending its forces “to help in extending necessary humanitarian assistance to civilians still trapped in areas of Marawi."

The mystery of the Guanches

The origins and language of the indigenous people of the Canary Islands remain a mystery, writes Dr Sabina Goralski Filonov Translation by James Tweedie The guanches, the aboriginals of the Canary Islands whose origin, lost in the mists of time, still arouses intense and passionate debate and great controversy about their origins and the how the seven Canary Islands were populated – which according to some studies occurred between 10,000 and 8,000 years BC. Literally, the word ‘Guan’ means man or person and ‘Chenech’ or ‘Chinet’ is applied to the island of Tenerife, thus meaning a man or inhabitant of Tenerife – although according to Núñez de la Peña, the Spanish named them the Guanchos during the conquest of the islands. But with the passage of time, experts in the subject are questioning whether the word Guanche was used to designate the primitive inhabitants of all the islands in the pre-Hispanic period. The term ‘Guanche’ has also ceased to be applied to the di...

Sun-crossed haters endanger 220,000 lives

My stepmother Shanthie Naidoo and her sister Ramnie were on an overnight flight from Johannesburg to Heathrow for a speaking tour when Extinction Rebellion offshoot Heathrow Pause began wilfully endangering aircraft by flying drones over the airport this morning. Shanthie is an ANC struggle veteran who lived in exile in London from 1973 to 1993, apart from some time in the exile community in Mazimbu, Tanzania. She and all her immediate family were jailed by the Apartheid government for political reasons. Shanthie's late brother Indres did 10 years on Robben Island and later wrote the book 'Island in Chains'. Their grandfather Thembi Naidoo worked alongside Mohandas K Gandhi during the civil disobedience campaigns against the early form of Apartheid. Extinction Rebellion has chosen for its logo a variation on the 'sonnenkreuz', a symbol used by both proto-fascist neo-pagan organisations and modern neo-Nazis. Around 220,000 passengers fly in and out of Heathr...

Homeless dogs’ home fights for compensation

Dingo Dogs owner Phil Nelson at his since-demolished home. DOGS’ home owner Phil Nelson has vowed to take legal action following his eviction from his Dingo Dogs animal sanctuary in August. by James Tweedie Indian-born Mr Nelson, along with former girlfriend and Dingo Dogs treasurer Leigh Crouch were left homeless by the court-ordered eviction and have been sharing a small hut in the mountains near Las Chafiras with ten dogs and three cats ever since. Mr Nelson’s dispute with his former landlord began in September 2004, after he officially registered his rented hillside finca as an animal sanctuary. It was a requirement of his registration that he keep proper financial records, including receipts for payment of rent. Mr Nelson says that despite having a rental contract and paying his rent “as regular as clockwork” for years, his landlord never gave him a receipt even after he began asking for one every month in 2004. In May 2005, after his landlord ha...

US allies say no Venezuela war

Lima Group rules out intervention Washington's Latin American allies will not back any invasion of Venezuela to overthrow its elected government. Peruvian Foreign Minister Néstor Popolizio insisted on Tuesday that the 'Lima Group' of nations – those hostile to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government – was against “military intervention.” “As the Lima Group we have said that we do not support any military intervention in Venezuela,” Mr Popolizio said at a meeting of the group in the Canadian capital Ottawa. The prospect of a US-led invasion to back extremist Venezuelan opposition figure Juan Guadió's claim to the presidency appeared more likely on Tuesday after White House National Security Advisor John Bolton appeared at a press conference holding a notepad scrawled with “5,000 troops to Colombia.” But Mr Popolizio insisted “we have no information” about a planned invasion. At Tuesday's pressconference US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin annou...

Brazilian bribers Odebrecht funded Venezuelan right

CORRUPT Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht funded opposition parties in Venezuela and elsewhere, its former CEO told Peruvian prosecutors on Wednesday. Marcelo Odebrecht told a hearing the corporation paid off the Venezuelan Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) coalition and other opposition parties across the continent to dissuade them from challenging corruptly-awarded contracts. “Our intention was to support many candidates of the opposition, even knowing that they would not be elected,” he said. “We supported them in some way because the opposition can also create problems.” “One way to create a network is through support,” Mr Odebrecht added. “The way to avoid the opposition was precisely to attend to its campaign needs.” Court documents show the corporation paid more than £70 million to Venezuelan “government officials and intermediaries” between 2006 and 2015. Last June former Odebrecht Venezuela director Euzenando Azevedo confessed to depositing money in a privat...

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