MNLF Urges Manila To Comply With Peace Agreement, Seeks Release Of Jailed Leader Nur Misuari

Above, Nur Misuari’s son Khalid Ibrahim shakes hands with Sayed El- Masry, international human rights expert Egyptian Sayed El-Masry, adviser to Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu of the Organization of Islamic Conference, while Secretary Jesus Dureza, Presidential peace adviser looks on during their visit in Jolo island Saturday, 20 May 2006,

Second and fourth photos, Dureza and Masry speaks to reporters in Zamboanga City. Third photo shows Dureza and Masry walk with Sharif Ibrahim Ajibul Mohammad Pulalun, of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo in Zamboanga City. (Zamboanga Journal)

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Zamboanga Journal / 20 May) The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) on Saturday urged Manila to comply with the 1996 peace agreement it signed with former rebel group.

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 the visiting representatives of the Organization of Islamic Conference headed by international human rights expert Egyptian Sayed El-Masry, who is adviser to OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu.

"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 told the Zamboanga Journal.

Nur Misuari, chieftain of the MNLF, 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 goverment 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 either joined either the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), now the country’s largest separatist rebel group, or 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 is facing trial on rebellion charges.

Sema said the OIC sent a delegation this week to look into the implementation of the peace accord and has proposed a tripartite meeting in Saudi Arabia in July.

"The OIC wanted Nur Misuari to head the MNLF delegation to Saudi for that meeting," he said, adding, the delegation also wanted Misuari released from jail.

"What we need now is the religious implementation of the peace agreement, so we can realize permanent peace and progress in the southern Philippines. The region is neglected, the Muslims are discriminated and many live in poverty. We need to rebuild everything, social and physical infrastructure are important to sustain the little peace that is left," Sema said.

Masry said the parties must sit together and discuss the problems affecting the implementation of the peace accord. He said the proposed tripartite meeting in Saudi Arabia is important for the Philippines and the MNLF to finally settle the problems.

Masry's group visited Marawi City on Thursday, and Maguindanao province and Jolo island the next day and spoke separately with senior Filipino security officials and MNLF leaders and former rebels about the implementation of the peace agreement.

In Jolo, the delegation trekked a two-kilometer dirt road to reach an MNLF camp in Bitanag village in Panamao town where hundreds of armed followers of Habier Malik and Kaid Ajibun were waiting.

"It is a mission of peace and we met with our MNLF brothers led by Habier Malik and Kaid Ajibun. We talked and discussed a lot of things about the peace agreement. The meeting is warm and cordial and we are happy about it," said Secretary Jesus Dureza, presidential adviser on the peace process, who accompanied the OIC team.

The OIC delagation returned to Zamboanga City on Saturday afternoon after being delayed by heavy rains in Jolo. "The peace agreement was not fully implemented and we need to discuss this in the tripartite meeting," the 70-year old Masry told reporters in Zamboanga City before flying back to Manila late Saturday.

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.

Dureza said the visit of the OIC delegation was timely and relevant because it will further boost peace negotiations between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

"The visit is truly another historic event as we continue to keep track of the full implementation of the government's commitments in the GRP-MNLF peace agreement. It will also boost the ongoing peace negotiations between the government and the MILF," Dureza said.

Manila opened peace talks 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.