Bombing in a refugee camp in the Philippines
Based on the assumption that negotiations between the rebel groups Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) have advanced in recent years over the Mindanao region, a new threat looms over the Islamic-majority territory. The extremist group Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) craves autonomy and control of the Mindanao region for itself. The group has affiliated itself with the Islamic State (IS) to obtain greater resource capacity and support around the world. In this process, they have also broken off negotiations with the Duterte administration.
BIFF rebels claim that the National Forces are advancing into the region and killing innocent people in refugee camps. Over 236,559 people are displaced in Mindanao and from that 3,000 have been killed in the past two months in the clashes between the Philippine government and the dissident groups. Duterte claims, however, that both the BIFF and the MILF, and MNFL are responsible for the deaths of these people and such accusation has caused an increase in tensions and the number of deaths. In the past 2 days, more than 378 people have been killed in Mindanao.
However, the latest bombing of one of these camps revealed the use of munitions from the National Forces of the Philippines with records of arms and ammunition from Russia and China, which pointed to a robust supply of illegal weapons in the hands of the Official Defense of the Asian country. Nonetheless, in previous reports, there are records that BIFF, MILF, and MNFL also use Russian- and Chinese-sourced weaponry in addition to having been caught with an arsenal from the United States and Saudi Arabia. In short, the Philippines’ violence is also financed by state centrist actors who are members of the UNSC.
