(Zamboanga siege. Photo by philstar)
'Fake' UN agent in bloody Mindanao siege nabbed
MANILA: Authorities have announced the arrest of a "fake" United Nations representative linked to the bloody and violent three-week standoff between government forces and "rogue" elements of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in early September in Zamboanga City in volatile Southwest Mindanao.
Chief Inspector Ariel Huesca, the regional police spokesman, reported the arrest of Daniel Xavier, a former US Navyman, inside a bus terminal in Cagayan de Oro also in Mindanao before dawn on Tuesday.
Huesca said Xavier did not resist when a composite team of policemen and soldiers served him an arrest warrant issued by a regional court in Zamboanga City.
The government has filed charges of rebellion and violations of international laws of crimes against humanity against Nur Misuari, the MNLF founding chairman, and Xavier for their alleged involvement in the Zamboanga City siege that killed more than 200 rebels, soldiers, policemen and civilians.
The standoff also displaced more than 120,000 residents most of them still crammed into temporary evacuation centers where they continued to receive relief from the government, UN agencies and other foreign groups.
According to the charge sheet, Xavier posed as a United Nations representative who allegedly promised to provide UN financial and material assistance to members of an MNLF faction loyal to Misuari in launching the attack on Zamboanga City in early September as part of Misuari's independence movement. – The Gulf Today
