Philippines asks US for help

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has formally requested the United States of America to aid her country in the fight against terrorism.

Islamic fundamentalist groups connected to Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda organisation are destabilising areas of the country around the island of Jolo, where a new insurrection has started.

In her meeting with George Bush on Tuesday, Gloria Arroyo asked for help against the fundamentalist group Abu Sayyaf.

In an address to the University of Georgetown, where she studied international diplomacy, Gloria Arroyo declared that the root cause for terrorism in the Philippines is poverty. She declared that the help of the USA “could spell the beginning of the end of terrorism in the southwest Philippines”.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.Ru