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US says Abu Sayyaf is no longer a threat

July 12, 2008

NEW YORK = While Philippine newspapers continue to view the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf terrorist group as a constant threat, the US-based counter-terrorism center says it is now a spent force.
“Lacking a charismatic leader and short of funds, the threats from the Philippines’ most dangerous militant group had been significantly diminished,” said the “Combating Terrorism Center (CTC)” at the US
Military Academy in West Point. It said the frequency and lethality of attacks attributed to the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf had dropped since 2007 after the death of its top leaders.

Philippine military leaders have also made the same assessment of the terrorist group. CTC said the military has also “inflicted crippling blows on the Abu Sayyaf” since mounting a major offensive, with the help of US technical intelligence, in 2006.
“Fleeing the authorities and short of funds, the Abu Sayyaf is a diminished threat,” said the CTC report, written by counterterrorism expert Zachary Abuza.

“Perhaps, the most telling sign of the Abu Sayyaf’s current state is their degeneration to kidnappings… effectively jettisoning what little ideological pretensions the group ever had.”

The report said there had been a number of kidnappings from 2007 on the southern troubled province of Sulu, including the recent case of three television journalists and a professor.

Most of these abductions had been blamed on the Abu Sayyaf, which has about 350 members and a track record of decapitations.

In all of these cases, the captives were freed after ransoms were paid, described as “board and lodging fees”, to skirt the government’s no negotiations and no ransom policy.
The Abu Sayyaf has also been blamed for the worst militant attacks, including the bombing of a ferry near Manila Bay in 2004 that killed more than 100 people.

Since 2002, US military forces have been helping train and advise local troops to fight the group, pouring about $500 million into combat equipment and development projects to help turn Muslim community against hard-line Islamists.
But why have the Abu Sayyaf not been finished off despite Washington’s
huge military and economic assistance on the South?
The CTC report said part of the problem is the failures of the local
military due to corruption, low morale and weak law enforcement and
prosecution of arrested jihadists.
It also offered a cynical answer on the Army’s little intention of
finishing the job because it “would end the pipeline of US training and
military assistance.”
Meanwhile, the US began imposing financial sanctions against the Rajah Solaiman Movement, its leader Ahmad Santos and other alleged members. This means that any bank accounts or other financial assets found in the US that belong to them must be frozen. Americans are also prohibited from doing business with them.
“The leader and members of the Rajah Solaiman Movement are responsible
for reprehensible acts that include killing citizens and tourists in the
Philippines to advance their terrorist agenda,” said Adam Szubin,
director of Treasury?s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The US and the Philippines are bound by a joint defense accord, and the
latter has been a supporter of the US-led “war on terror.”

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