The Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) has continued its brutal campaign in the southern Philippines with the confirmation of the beheading of tourist Robert Hall who had been held captive by the group until his death last week. The Canadian national was kidnapped from Samal Island in September 2015, along with fellow hostages John Risdel, Kjartan Sekkingstad and Filipino national Marites Flor. Both Hall and Risdel were beheaded after their P300 million ransoms were not met; Risdel was executed in April and his severed head was later found in a residential area on Sulu island whilst Hall’s death was confirmed on June 14. Although initially focused on kidnapping Filipino citizens, ASG has greatly increased its number of tourist kidnappings in recent years causing concern amongst the Filipino government that the fledgling tourist trade in the Philippines will be affected. Foreign governments have refused to meet ransom demands by the small but highly active militant group which is considered a terrorist organisation by the West.
The ASG was formed in the 1990s as an offshoot of the Moro Muslim separatist rebellion in the southern Philippines however their calls for a recognised Moro state were quickly subsumed by their use of beheadings, killings and bombings against both foreign nationals and Filipino citizens. Both the two main Moro separatist groups, the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, have distanced themselves from the brutal tactics of the ASG and the membership of the group has declined amidst in-fighting and funding problems. In recent years, the ASG has increasingly come to the attention of Western authorities concerned about the spread of Islamic terrorism in South East Asia- the leader of the group, Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani, trained in Afghanistan with Osama bin Laden and the group received initial funding and training from Al Qaeda. More concerning to authorities however, has been the recent declaration by several ASG factions of allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organisation. Whilst Filipino authorities have downplayed concerns and characterised the Islamic State connection as an opportunistic attempt to derive funds and credibility from IS, Western authorities, particularly the United States, remain highly concerned about IS establishing a base in South-East Asia from which to conduct terrorist training and coordinate offensives in the region.
The ASG’s increasing boldness in their kidnappings and executions has implications for stability in the entire region, not just the Philippines and the US. Following the Bali bombings in 2001, members of the Indonesian Jemaah Islamiyah group responsible found shelter with the ASG and close ties between the two terrorist groups have continued. Whilst there has been no direct evidence linking the ASG to recent attacks in Indonesia, forensic investigators have identified the weapons as originating from the southern Philippines, according to the BBC. Although the ASG mainly relies on lucrative kidnappings from tourist resorts to fund their organisation, the increase in raids on Indonesian and Malaysian shipping vessels have further sparked concerns from the region that the maritime trade in the area will be affected if the ASG continues to pursue piracy and on June 24, the Indonesian government forbid coal-carrying Indonesian ships from travelling to the Philippines where Indonesian coal supplies 98% of the country’s energy needs.
To date, the Filipino government has responded to the situation with an escalated military presence and military raids on ASG hideouts in the jungle of the southern Philippines. However the incoming president, Rodrigo Duterte, due to take office on June 30, 2016, has seemingly signalled a change in direction for the state’s engagement with the ASG. Duterte has famously stated
“the Abu Sayyaf Group, they are not my enemies. I just want a clarification: are they willing to talk or just fight it out?”
Many local leaders have similarly highlighted that the fundamental grievances of the ASG lie with the local Moro Muslim cause which has become co-opted by the global war on Islamic terrorism and believe that sensitive governance of the region is key to engaging with the group. Whatever the underlying motivations of the group, their brutal tactics are a continued cause for concern however the news that the Filipino hostage Marites Flor, the fiancée of Robert Hall, has been released following negotiations facilitated by the leader of the Moro Islamic Front suggests that the ASG may be open to future dialogue.
