MILF sends delegation to OIC meeting in Azerbaijan

"We have sent a small delegation to the OIC ministerial conference in Azerbaijan and it will join the delegation from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). We hope to articulate on the Mindanao problems and the peace talks if given the chance by the OIC," Eid Kabalu, the MILF spokesman, said from his base in the southern Philippines.

Kabalu said while the MNLF is a permanent observer in the OIC, the MILF represents the Bangsamoro people, including the indigenous people in Mindanao. Bangsamoro refers to Filipino-Muslims and ethnic tribes in Mindanao island.

"We are concerned with issues about Mindanao and the Bangsamoro people and everything that effects the peace and order in the region and with the MILF and MNLF delegations, we are sure the voices of the Bangsamoro people will be heard loud and clear that we are all for peace," he said.

Manila opened peace talks in 2001 with the MILF -- which broke away with the larger MNLF in 1978 -- in an effort to end the hostilities in the strife-torn, but mineral-rich region.

Kabalu did not say how many MILF members were sent to Azerbaijan, but Muhammad Ameen, a senior rebel leader, claimed the delegation is headed by Maulana Alonto, who is a member of the group's peace panel. The MNLF delegation, on the hand, is composed of Ustadz Abdulbaki Abubakar and Hatimil Hassan, and several more senior leaders.

"We enjoy the support of the OIC and many member countries on our quest for peace in Mindanao," Kabalu said, adding, it will be the 5th time the MILF attended important OIC meetings since 2002.

The 33rd Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers (ICFM) is expected to discuss the 10-year old peace agreement between the Philippines and MNLF and prepare the groundwork for a tripartite meeting in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia next month.

It will also tackle various issues such as terrorism, coordination between member countries in the field of Human Rights and the follow up on Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam and discuss the Palestinian issue and the Israeli-Arab conflict, the current situation in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan and Cyprus.

The agenda also includes the conflict over Jammu and Kashmir, the peace process between India and Pakistan and problems of refugees in the Muslim World. The issues of cooperation between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency will also be discussed.

The OIC ministerial meeting is the first session to be held after the 3rd Extraordinary Islamic Summit Conference held in Makkah Al-Mukarramah in Saudi Arabia in December last year.

Last month, the OIC sent a delegation to the Philippines headed by international human rights expert Egyptian Sayed El-Masry, who is adviser to OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, to look into the status of the peace agreement after the MNLF accused Manila of reneging on the accord.

Masry visited different MNLF camps in the restive southern Filipino region and spoke to its members and top leaders, including Nur Misuari, chieftain of the MNLF, who signed a peace deal with Manila in September 1996, ending more than 20 years of bloody fighting in the southern Philippines.

After the peace agreement was signed, Misuari became the governor of autonomous region. Despite the accord, there was a widespread disillusionment with the weak autonomy they were granted. Under the peace agreement, Manila would provide a mini-Marshal Plan to spur economic development in Muslim areas in the south and livelihood and housing assistance to tens of thousands of former rebels to uplift their poor living standards. The government later granted autonomy to five Muslim provinces in the south called the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm).

But many former rebels were disgruntled with the accord, saying, the government failed to comply with some of its provisions and uplift their standards of living. They accused the government of failing to develop the war-torn areas in the south, which remain in mired in poverty, heavily militarized and dependent financially on Manila.

Some of the disgruntled former rebels have joined the MILF and the smaller and ruthless Abu Sayyaf group. And Muslims in the south are most likely to fight for or support an armed separatist front when they perceive no alternative means to overcome discrimination and improve their living conditions.

In November 2001, on the eve of the ARMM elections, Misuari accused the government of reneging on the peace agreement, and launched a new rebellion in Jolo island and Zamboanga City, where more than 100 people were killed. Misuari escaped to Malaysia, but was arrested there and sent back home where he is now facing trial on rebellion charges.

Muslimen Sema, MNLF secretary general and also mayor of Cotabato City, said the government failed to honor some provisions in the peace deal and also told this to Masry. "We told the OIC mission about the failure of the government to fully implement the 1996 peace agreement and many of our members are disgruntled about this," Sema said.

Masry said there is a need to review the peace agreement and has proposed a tripartite meeting in Saudi Arabia in July to discuss the problems affecting the implementation of the accord to finally settle the problems. He urged Manila to free Misuari so he can attend the meeting, but the government said the decision to release the former rebel leader is entirely with the court.

The OIC delegation was sent to the southern Philippines following the 32nd Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers (ICEM) at Sana'a Yemen last year to check on the status of the remaining implementation requirement for peace accord.

Last year, more than 1,400 disgruntled MNLF members threatened to abandon the 1996 peace agreement they signed with Manila after accusing the government of reneging on its pact with the former separatist rebel group.

"MNLF commanders all over Mindanao are getting restless over the perceived failure of the government to fulfill its obligations. I am afraid that if the government does not take this seriously, the negative sentiments of our armed combatants can run out of proportion and might lead to eventual abandonment of the agreement," Sema said.

The MNLF also boycotted the ARMM elections last year after the government supported Maguindanao town mayor Datu Zaldy Ampatuan, a staunch ally of President Gloria Arroyo, instead of MNLF candidates.

/www.sunstar.com.ph/