5 000 Filipinos feel Sabah unrest
2013-03-30 15:21
Manila - Almost 5 000 Filipinos have fled the Malaysian
state of Sabah since security forces launched an offensive to root out Islamic
invaders loyal to an obscure Philippine sultan, a government agency said on Saturday.
The Philippine National Disaster Risk Reduction and
Management Council said it had recorded 4 983 adults and children who had
arrived in the south of the archipelago after fleeing Sabah due to the ongoing
fighting.
Paslur Abdullah, executive director of the government
centre in charge of caring for the new arrivals, said the total was likely to
be higher as many would have returned without registering.
"They arrive on small vessels. Some of them
disembark without registering and they are met by relatives. We cannot detain
them," he told AFP, adding that it was not know if any of the invaders
were amongst those fleeing.
The Filipinos began arriving in early March after clashes
broke out between Malaysian forces and followers of the self-declared Sultan of
Sulu, Jamalul Kiram III who claims Sabah as his territory.
About 200 followers of Kiram, some of them armed, arrived
in Sabah in February in an attempt to claim the Malaysian state for the
sultanate, reviving a centuries-old territorial row.
The incursion and a Malaysian counter-assault has left
more than 60 militants dead along with 10 security personnel, according to
Malaysian authorities, and strained relations with Manila.
Philippine President Benigno Aquino has previously
expressed concern that the unrest in Sabah might displace the estimated 800 000
Filipinos working there.