94734801 during regular business hours you can always become a member of k. Or c c by going to see that o r g and making your financial contributions safely on line. Welcome to the inquiry on the b.b.c. World Service I'm Ruth Alexander This week we're telling the story of how Islamic state group fighters have tried to take a city in and Asia. Where we've been. Very similar to. The government forces 5 months to regain control of more always city in the Philippines to put it bluntly I don't think the able to deal with this security challenge on their own there's a fear extremist violence could now spread there's lots of concern in the region that there's going to be a long aftermath of the murder we see what is I asked doing in the Philippines that's the inquiry after this update from the b.b.c. World Service newsroom. I'm Debbie rests with the b.b.c. News Hello President Trump has insisted that funding for a wall along the Mexican border has to be included in immigration legislation currently being negotiated between Republicans and Democrats from Washington his Gary O'Donoghue yesterday the White House press secretary Sarah Saunders was careful to stress that it was action on border security that was essential raising the possibility that the war itself might not happen quite so quickly but 24 hours later the president during a news conference was adamant that the war had to be included in the legislation which would also regularize the status of hundreds of thousands of so-called dreamers young undocumented people brought here illegally by their parents the president had earlier described the u.s. Judicial system as broken and unfair off the court blocked his attempt to end the program protecting the dream as Mr Trump has also said Washington could be persuaded to rejoin the powers comment accord if a deal that treated the u.s. Move fairly could be reached speaking during a news conference he said it was not the agreement itself he disagreed with but it's on favorable terms it's an agreement that I have no problem with but I had a problem with the agreement that they side because as usual they made a bad deal so we could conceivably go back in but I say this we are very strong on the environment I feel very strongly about the environment but we also want businesses that can compete at the Paris accord really would have taken away our competitive edge and we're not going to let that happen I'm not going to let it happen the u.s. Has demanded that Iran release all those arrested during recent anti-government protests a White House statement said the Trump administration was deeply concerned that Iran had imprisoned thousands of citizens for engaging in what it called Peaceful protests it's not known how many people have been arrested the official figure is around 1000. Tunisia's prime minister Yousuf Shah head has condemned the anti austerity protests that have affected about 20 towns in recent days he described the demonstrations as unacceptable violence and said vandals were trying to weaken the state in the capital Tunis and the nearby town of to build were demonstrated died on Monday protests are being staged for a 3rd successive night and police have deployed tear gas Chiles Havilland reports fresh nighttime protests have hit not only to listen to Berber but several other towns where tires have been burnt and petrol bombs thrown through authorities say dozens of policemen have been injured in the past day about 200 protesters have been arrested the prime minister has accused demonstrators of using children to loot and ransack some of those demonstrating say it's no longer possible to live on their salaries as costs of food fuel and other goods spiral with growing public anger massive anti austerity rallies are planned for Friday Well news from the b.b.c. The Colombian rebel group the 11 has urged President Juan Manuel Santos to reopen peace talks which was suspended after its fighters targeted an army outpost and blew up one of the country's main oil pipelines the Marxist rebels launched the attack shortly after a bilateral ceasefire expired angering the government Mr Santos recalled his negotiating team from the Ecuadorian capital Quito with the talks were taking place and ordered the army to respond forcefully the heads of the 7 southern European countries on the front line of the ongoing migration crisis have reiterated their commitment to finding a common European policy in a statement issued after leaders from Cyprus France Spain Greece Italy Malta and Portugal attended a meeting in Rome they called upon of the e.u. Members to share the burden of border protection and migrant reception. 3 Thieves have been detained in France following a jewelry theft at the Ritz Hotel in Paris police say jewels worth several $1000000.00 retaken 5 men arrived at the world famous hotel with hatchets on Wednesday evening and smashed windows before making off with their whole new fossil evidence has shown that months and butterflies have been around for more than 200000000 years the discovery means that butterflies shared the planet with early dinosaurs his Mary breaks butterflies a fragile creatures and rarely leave traces in the fossil record researches were amazed to discover scales from their wings perfectly preserved in ancient rock the scales only the size of specks of dust shows some of these early insects belong to a group alive today that feed on nectar with long coiled tongues the new evidence pushes back the time which scientists believe they evolved by some 70000000 years and it means the butterflies survived a mass extinction that wiped out many other living things b.b.c. News. Welcome to the inquiry on the b.b.c. World Service with me Ruth Alexander Each week we bring you 4 expert witnesses unstring one pressing question from the news. It was a hot and humid day of thunderstorms in late May last year when gunfire rang out him or always city in the southern Philippines. It's not that unusual a sound them are always fighting breaks out among local groups on a semi-regular basis. When people looked out of their windows this time they saw something extraordinary. A police van flying a flag the black flag of the Islamic state group. Within hours major organizations around the world were running the story with the headline morale way under siege from jihadists. Photos showed masked men roaming the streets buildings on fire. This wasn't Syria this was in Iraq this was the Philippines. 24 hours in the Army's public affairs chief held a press conference and read from his script. The situation in Mari has stabilized security forces are even full control of the situation this was wishful thinking it took the Filipino forces 5 months and help from the u.s. And China to regain control of the city. The extremists were defeated but there are salt on morale we was all day shifts people fair I asked was trying to break new ground attempting to gain a foothold in Asia. And in this inquiry we want to know. What is I asked doing in the Philippines. Part one deep roots. Start to answer our question let's get a briefing on the Philippines between the island part of Southeast Asia it's about 7100 islands the bend as we say whether it's high tide or a low tide but it's several islands are 1st expert witness Miriam Coronel Farah is a professor of political science at the University of the Philippines in the northern part of the archipelago and there is a saw there in part it is quite distinct from the rest of the country the difference has its roots in religion Islam spread to the Philippines in the 13th century a few 100 years later a new influence arrived on its shores Catholic Spain a colonizer much of the country as Christianized by Spain beginning in the 16th 17th century so that's why I became called the Philippines after King Philip at that time but large sections of the Soudan most group of islands called in the now in the saloon archipelago where not pretty colonized which meant that they were able to keep their Islamic culture and their qualities at that time and for years these islands remained under the Islamic rule of sultans eventually Spain sold the Philippines to the United States which in the 1940 s. Decided to grant the country its independence but the Islamic people in the southern islands didn't want to be a part of it they actually picked nation and the United States of America to exempt them from inclusion into the Republic but that was denied and so the now clear. That they have been forcibly annexed through their public of the Philippines over time population change meant Muslims living in Mindanao in the surrounding islands known as Moro people became a minority to their feelings of resentment in the 1960 s. And your generation was born and begun their independence movement. The Morrow National Liberation Front demanded an independent Moro nation they constituted themselves of course the political arena station but they had been armed we. Fought the government in the late sixty's. By the 970 s. Martial law had been declared on the battles ask elated into full scale guerrilla war. It was fought in the streets in the forest in the marsh lands it's estimated one 100000 people died in the bloody fighting and 976 the war ended with a peace agreement but it didn't last long breakaway groups formed most notably the morally slimy collaboration which eventually became a much bigger group they were armed they had a huge amount of Arsenal they were producing their own weapons and they actually if you're a radical Islam with elements associating with al-Qaeda they fought the Filipino government for years until in 2001 they agreed to peace talks a process our expert witness was part of they said that they haven't negotiated with a woman before they will know how they felt that their hearts are going to be tied because it wasn't the quarrel or the woman and saw Miriam Coronel Farah won them round and in 2014 after 17 long years of negotiations a peace deal was signed Are there was a lot of crying from. The men especially from the Liberation Front there was happiness and a lot of tears of joy the Philippines government agreed to give the Moro Muslims in Mindanao some autonomy problem solved there has to be in relative peace because they had the ceasefire family in place but because of the delays in the legislation of a new law that will create the new autonomous region there has been some kind of instability a lot of waiting with no definite timeframe. And a lot of frustration many Muslims in Mindanao are desperate for change if we look at the Human Development Index in this province s or at the bottom or higher stop our rates elementary secondary education lowest income lowest average lifespan all of the indicators there point to having been left behind this lack of development is for some the perfect opportunity you have the influence of radical Islam from other parts of the globe being able to penetrate these open spaces very very far from the central authorities and that's why now you do have a problem with younger people they need their backs on the older revolutionary fronts and being attracted to Islamist radical violent extremist groups the Philippine government has battled insurgencies from the south for many years with a promising political deal assert by and list allays the separate a struggle has fired up again gaining new energy from the ideas of Islamic extremism. Part 2 The men in black. Me What's a landmark. Nightmare. Incident for our 2nd expert witness journalist and to the scene there Ali Bhutto is from our always city or as is probably known the Islamic city of moral way to look beautiful and picture is surrounded by rolling green hills and mountains However one day a few months ago things turned ugly you need 23 at about lunchtime Hartwell walk there were one of the 3 of them on an international character called Happy go on this needle in her film a Filipino from the south who was wanted in the u.s. Government soldiers descended on her always city where a religious gathering was taking place the plan was to take up along by surprise but it was then who and for a surprise happened almost surrounded by supporters who leapt to his defense so there was constant face off and there was many looking not at the streets who were defending the lawn they just kind of spread out towards the public off because the highways police station on and people started getting inside their houses because of the Terry high fire arms that they were seeing killed became a panic situation inside the homes people turned on the televisions because there are some public videos public t.v. Video was made in black a lot of men in black Samir Alley do talk sister in law was at work in the hospital when the gunman burst in the Men in Black where in the emergency room and all the doctors and personnel. Escaping the men in black because they shot one patient to let the in the inside pocket of death because they are cowards all the radio Meanwhile men in blood were roaming the streets to see. Fire trucks very we're calling on people to join them and they have black clad they were waving that. There is an Arabic word lettering and it's very similar to the foreign group of I think it's so they were waving ISIS flags yet so began the battle from are always city that within hours was making headlines around the world by the evening the government had declared martial law and ordered residents out of the city people like that leaving enough people were actually regularly lining up all Marines were leaving but it was such a very good site of hysteria not everyone managed to get out if you could speak that would be find a good son and some Christians were taken hostage others were protected by the Muslim neighbors mainly for their Christian counterparts be other big legal cover had cordoned the fighting raged on the Philippines government aided by the United States and China sent in more soldiers drones and bombers. Who were regular from God Many of the. Men who transferred from one house to another so they would be after shield. After 5 months of this fighting in October hopping on the wanted terrorist was dead and the Philippines president Rodriguez deterred claimed victory. More than a 1000 people are thought to have died in the siege of Maher we summarily go talk has since been back to visit her hometown she says it's unrecognizable half of the city but had been burned. Under no human life. They're going to compare body and very body. Does it feel like the threat of violence from the fighters is gone we hope so great. You know recruitment online and on You Tube and on. Court militants frying blood flocks have battled to gain control of the Philippines main Islamic city that ultimately failed but who exactly were they and who was pulling the strings. Before we get to the next part of the story what about the inquiry podcast if he subscribed to it you need never miss an edition search for the inquiry whatever you find your podcasts will search online for the inquiry podcast. Parked 3 telegrams from rocka. It was totally fascinating to see these communications coming in and to get a sense that you were there it gave you a sense of being part of the battle in real time. Expert Witness Sidney Jones from the Institute for Policy Analysis on conflict followed the siege of moral way from over the sea in Jakarta Indonesia she's been able to read messages sent by the fighters on the ground I ask commanders in the Middle East Vajra messaging up cold telegram much loved by extremists. In a way they efforts that telegram has made now to try and remove terrorists content is actually a very good thing but it diminishes my bedtime reading So we've got one side of the telegram communication what did those telegram say it was reporting on the progress it was discussing how they were going to apply Sharia law and you began to realize from this that there actually had been a process of radicalization that it taking place among people that many in the Philippine military had dismissed as the same old insurgents or bandits or ne'er do wells as we've heard insurgents in the southern Philippines have long struggled for independence when I ask claimed it had gained a. Stronghold in Syria and Iraq fighters in the Philippines what inspired. Me. If any fuss. All over the Philippines mostly in Mindanao there were videos of different groups swearing allegiance to al Baghdadi from Groups in prisons where you shouldn't have had the opportunity to use cell phones to groups that eventually came to make up this pro ISIS alliance. This is the voice of Hopalong whose attempt to arrest the siege of a leader of a group called Abu say off he declared allegiance to i.i.s. In 2014 the leaders of another insurgent group did the same the muti brothers well known in the cell for their business and fighting connections the brothers were 1st extremely good looking Che Guevara like in terms of their long flowing locks and more to the point 2 of the brothers had studied in the Middle East one in Egypt and one in Jordan and had made extensive international contacts. These 2 groups bonded together with various of the disparate rebel factions under the I asked. Was for about the 1st time that you had an alliance in the name of Islam that transcended ethnic and regional identities the groups knew other Southeast Asians who'd gone to fight with i.i.s. In the Middle East and those connections were crucial I think from the beginning it was ISIS's idea to have a little Mosul in Malawi and it provided guidance as well as funding to try and make it happen however Sidney Jones says that I asked is. For the Filipino action hot sun limits it was clear that the fighters themselves wanted to be recognized as the East Asia province of Islamic state and they never got that recognition Sidney Jones says i-s. Driven out of Iraq or in Syria is engaged in a bottle for its own survival and so his priority remains the Middle East the Philippines for everything that they were able to achieve and made our way remains a kind of backwater. However she says the risk posed by Islamic extremism in the Philippines is still high or the fight is very much not over murder out he has been liberated but there are many people who are believed to have survived within the leadership circle that was running the city. And there's a fear that you could be joined by other Southeast Asian fighters returning from the Middle East there's lots of concern in the region more generally that there's going to be a long aftermath of the model we see each foreign fighters coming back from Syria could stop off in the Philippines as a kind of temporary safe haven before returning to their home countries what is I asked doing in the Philippines our expert witness says it's provided inspiration support and funding for the siege of mar all and yet it refused to recognize the southern Philippines as a province of the caliphate the siege is now over but the fight is not so what is the Philippines going to do about it. Part 4 standing on. On together. The scale of the seach the audacity of the seach was something that took a number of people by surprise including myself a final expert witness Joseph liao a professor of International Studies in Singapore has long studied Muslim politics in Southeast Asia. Didn't just take people like him by surprise it took the Philippines government by surprise to so does it have the capacity to deal with this threat to put it bluntly I don't think they are able to deal with this security challenge on their own. The fact that it took the verb in government 5 months a lot of help from external parties you know u.s. Drones Chinese weaponry etc to flush out the militants from tells you as much about the state of preparedness and operational readiness of the Philippine security forces as they do the nature of the threat th