page_title: Zamboanga City crisis
section_title: Prelude
hierarchical_section_title: Zamboanga City crisis / Prelude
caption_attribution_description: English: This is the only picture taken Friday March 9 2007 of Governor Misuari. There were hundreds of press upstairs waiting for him in the 3rd floor of the Saudi embassy. They did not get to see him. Not one picture was taken by the press. I was the only one among the diplomats who were sweating for over half an hour in the parking lot negotiating for Nur to enter the building unsuccessfully. Being an amateur photographer always with a camera in my pocket, I took the only picture shortly before Misuary left the Saudi Embassy in Manila without being able to pray that day with the OIC Ambassador and other Moslem Leaders in the country. Had Nur Misuari been allowed to enter the building and the dozens of photographers had taken his picture ..my picture would have been a dime a dozen as they say...but since I was the only one...who had the only picture...it was precious...it was the most memorable picture I have ever taken as an amateur photographer...it was priceless!....so what do you do when you have something that is beyond value?...you give it to the news....and Wikipedia...que sera sera. I don't normally do that...but Governor Nur looked so good..so hopeful...so optimistic...so positive despite the immediate problem with the escort...so cool despite the pressure he was facing in the parking lot of the Saudi embassy...I could feel his energy and managed to capture it in this one picture...through his car window. I had to share his picture with the world...in my six years in the diplomatic circles I have taken hundreds of thousands of pictures ..they have all been for me and for friends who were in my pictures.. this is the first time I felt I had to make a picture public...and I just know Governor Misuari will like it. Joseph Felix Assad the Consul of Lebanon to the Philippines.
context_page_description: The Zamboanga City crisis or Zamboanga Siege was an armed conflict in Zamboanga City, Philippines between the forces of the Philippine government and a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front, generally known by other factions as the Rogue MNLF Elements under the Sulu State Revolutionary Command led by Ustadz Habier Malik and Khaid Ajibon, whose group continues to recognize Nur Misuari as MNLF Chairman. The crisis erupted on September 9, 2013 when this MNLF faction attempted to raise the flag of the self-proclaimed Bangsamoro Republik at Zamboanga City Hall, which had earlier declared its independence on August 12, 2013 in Talipao, Sulu. This armed incursion, which has been variously described a "crisis", a "standoff", a "siege", and a "humanitarian crisis", was met by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police, which sought to free the hostages and expel the MNLF from the city. The standoff degenerated into urban warfare, and brought parts of the city into a standstill for days.
context_section_description: Affirming the statements of MNLF Director for Advocacy John Petalcorin that Nur Misuari and the MNLF has no participation in the Zamboanga Siege, the CNN Philippines interviewed Nur Misuari and reported that "Nur Misuari denies charges linking him to the 2013 Zamboanga Siege".
  Nur Misuari, the leader of the rebel group Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) signed a peace treaty in 1996 that allowed the creation of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and Misuari became its first governor. However in 2001, he was ousted as MNLF chair by his colleagues in the MNLF leadership and replaced as ARMM governor. Misuari's reaction was rebellion against the Philippine government. Recently, however, Misuari "has been angered by a planned peace deal with the MILF, believing it would sideline the MNLF and the 1996 peace deal". Misuari proclaimed the independence of the Bangsamoro Republik on August 12, 2013 at Talipao, Sulu, although it was largely ignored by the government.
  Misuari "disappeared from public view" before the fighting broke out in Zamboanga.
  The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) received intelligence reports that the MNLF would launch mass operations in Zamboanga City, three days before the incident. AFP spokesman Col. Ramon Zagala said that according to intelligence reports the MNLF troops were deployed to the coastal barangays (villages) of Rio Hondo, Sta. Barbara, Mariqui and Sta. Catalina. According to initial reports, the MNLF group who entered the barangays were unarmed and it was the night before the incident that the MNLF were armed in Rio Hondo. Zagala claimed that the MNLF group involved in the incident is a breakaway faction of the militant group.
  In an interview, an MNLF official claimed that the fighters actions was a "pre-emptive response" to a supposed "large" troop movement" of the Army, stating that the group feared that military movement was the prelude to the arrest a high-profile leader of MNLF in the area, such as Nur Misuari.
  A commander named Ustadz Habier Malik, who "is a key senior aide of Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founder Nur Misuari," is reportedly leading the siege on Zamboanga City.
caption: Nur Misuari, chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front, and governor of ARMM from 1996 to 2002.
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