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Rebels seize UN food supply for thousands displaced in Philippines
Philippine Muslim rebels stopped a United Nations convoy and seized food supplies for tens of thousands of people displaced by fighting in the country, police said on Friday.
- Agencies
- Published: 11:25 September 5, 2008
Manila: Philippine Muslim rebels stopped a United Nations convoy and seized food supplies for tens of thousands of people displaced by fighting in the country, police said on Friday.
Regional police chief Joel Goltiao said dozens of rebels from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) stopped the convoy in Mindanao and took about 60 bags of rice.
"The rebels ordered the aid workers, at gunpoint, to transfer the shipment of food," said Goltiao.
Since August 11, the U.N. agencies had distributed more than 1,200 tonnes of rice to more than half a million people displaced by weeks of fighting in six southern provinces.
On Wednesday, the government said it has decided to end 11 years of peace negotiations with MILF after the rebels failed to stop deadly attacks on Christian-dominated villages.
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