ZAMBOANGA CITY -- The city’s crisis management committee announced on Saturday that the armed conflict between government forces and members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) under Nur Misuari has been elevated to ‘Level 4’.

Make Peace Not War

CAUSE OF WAR

"Causes of the Sudden Eruption of Filipino-Moro War in Zamboanga City," the MNLF blamed the hostilities in Zamboanga City to President Benigno Aquino III, whom they claimed to have "total disrespect" of the 1996 Peace Agreement between the group and the government. "Consciously or unconsciously, President Aquino might have forgotten the fact that the original ARMM was the creation of his mother's government and that it was rejected by both the MNLF and the (58-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation)," the MNLF said in the statement.It also claims that Aquino did not heed former President Fidel Ramos' advise to engage Missouri in a peace dialogue on the complete implementation of the deal."The Aquino administration wanted people to believe that the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao is a 'failed experiment' that has to be replaced by a new concept autonomy embodying the future 'Bangsamoro'," the MNLF said.It was referring to the pending creation of Bangsamoro Autonomous Region through a framework agreement with the MNLF-breakaway group, Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

EFFECT OF THE WAR IN THE PEOPLE OF

ZAMBOANGA

The Battle of Zamboanga City is an ongoing conflict that began on September 9, 2013, when a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) under the leadership of Nur Misuari seized hostages in Zamboanga City and attempted to raise the flag of the self-proclaimed Bangsamoro Republik, a state which declared its independence earlier in August, at City Hall. This armed incursion has been met by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, which seeks to free the hostages and expel the MNLF from the city. The standoff has degenerated into urban warfare, and has brought parts of the city under standstill for days.

WOUNDED SOLDIER A government trooper tends to a comrade who was wounded by mortar fire on the fifth day of the standoff between government forces and Moro rebels in Zamboanga City on Friday. EDWIN BACASMAS.

HOW WE CAN STOP THE

WAR?