COTABATO CITY: The largest and most politically-active group in the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) is merely seeking a peaceful quadripartite dialogue on the newly-crafted framework deal, without the sabre-rattling of Nur Misuari, one of the leaders of the group said.
Cotabato City Vice-Mayor Muslimin Sema, chairman of the largest of three factions in the MNLF, said their group would only be able to reach a consensus about the newly signed agreement with the government, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation if they meet with them.
Sema, whose group is comprised of 20 “revolutionary states” scattered in different “peace zones” in Mindanao, said they are confident that the OIC, through its Southern Philippines Peace Committee, (SPPC) is willing to cooperate in organising a “quadripartite meeting” meant to hasten the resolution of the Mindanao Moro problem.
“We’re confident that President Aquino will not allow any abrogation of the September 2, 1996 GPH-MNLF final peace agreement while he is pursuing a settlement with the Milf. We are for peaceful dialogues on that issue, we will never do any war-mongering,” Sema told reporters in an e-mailed statement.
Sema said Malacañang, the OIC and the MNLF already reached 42 consensus points in the tripartite review of the peace accord, practically the same issues that the government and the Milf are set to discuss based on the newly-signed framework agreement.
Sema said there are three remaining issues that are to be ironed out - transition mechanism, transition period and the best option to shift from the present autonomous government to another political body as envisioned by the OIC, the government and the MNLF.
“We’re not rattling the sabre. We are for a peaceful dialogue on the framework agreement,” Sema added.
Sema said they also support the government’s plan to present the framework agreement to the OIC during its foreign ministers’ meeting next month in Djibouti.
“We don’t have any problem with that. That would help hasten understanding on the ‘parallelism’ of the framework agreement and the on-going tripartite review of the 1996 government-MNLF peace agreement,” Sema said.
The OIC, a pan-Islamic bloc of more than 50 Muslim countries, including oil-exporting states in the Middle East and North Africa, helped broker the government-MNLF peace agreement.
The OIC had monitored the initial implementation of the peace accord through a committee of seven countries, among them Indonesia and Libya, in a bid to push forward the government-MNLF peace overture even prior to the crafting of the 1976 Tripoli Agreement in Libya.
The Tripoli Agreement was signed December 23, 1976 by the government and the MNLF.
Sema said their group is convinced the OIC will give the government and the Milf the chance to present the framework agreement to the meeting of its foreign ministers in Djibouti.
“It’s premature to say that the OIC will not allow the Milf and the government to participate in that meeting,” Sema said.
A lawyer of the MNLF claimed that the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the MILF have no legal personality to attend the OIC’s activity in Djibouti.
“The OIC meeting is exclusive only to member countries and the Philippines is already represented by MNLF chairman Nur Misuari,” the lawyer, who refused to be identified, said.
Sema said the OIC has a special committee - the SPPC, which looks into the plight of the country’s Moro communities and the government-MILF peace efforts.
“We don’t need to do any war-mongering, or sabre rattling because all of these things are best discussed amicably,” Sema said.
He said the Milf and the MNLF are not at war with each other.
“These two Moro fronts are both fighting for homeland, self-governance and welfare of the Moro people,” Sema said.
Misuari and a leader of another MNLF faction, Mujahab Hashim, of Islamic Council, have both criticised the GPH-MILF framework agreement, saying the pact could prompt the MNLF to seek independence for Mindanao again.
The Philippine Star
