Nur Misuari pledges to support government peace efforts in South RP

A US soldier scribbles a note as former Moro National Liberation Front rebel leader Nur Misuari speaks to Sulu Governor Sakur Tan during a meeting on Thursday, October 2, 2008 in Patikul town in the southern Filipino island of Sulu. Misuari has committed to help peace and development efforts in Sulu, one of six provinces under the Muslim autonomous region, where US forces are currently deployed and helping Governor Tan in various humanitarian and development projects and at the same time training Filipino troops. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

SULU, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 3, 2008) – Former Moro National Liberation Front rebel leader Nur Misuari has pledged to support government peace efforts in the southern Philippines, a far cry from his previous criticism of President Gloria Arroyo, whom he previously accused of failing to implement the 1996 peace agreement with the MNLF.

“We want peace. We don’t want war and I am helping President Arroyo to bring peace in the South,” Misuari said when he held a meeting with Sulu Governor Sakur Tan and senior military and government officials on Thursday at the Provincial Capitol in Patikul town.

Misuari, accompanied by dozens of supporters, said he was asked by Mrs. Arroyo to help in bringing peace in Mindanao, where troops are battling Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels.

Misuari spoke with Tan and Major General Juancho Sabban, commander of military forces in Sulu, and Undersecretary Nabil Tan, a presidential adviser, about his role as a peace maker.

He also met with his loyal forces in Sulu led by Habier Malik, who is wanted by the Philippine authorities for previously leading a series of attacks on government troops on the province.

In August, Misuari strongly criticized Mrs. Arroyo for her failure to honor the provisions of the peace accord the government signed 12 years ago.“We want freedom from the government. We don't need a limited freedom,” Misuari told his supporters at a mosque when he visited Zamboanga City.

“I have gone to all of the most dangerous places in Mindanao to tell our people to pray to almighty Allah for freedom. I call on our people to consolidate their unity and solidarity for freedom,” he said.

It was unknown whether Misuari would also meet with the leaders of the MILF, a breakaway faction of the MNLF. Manila suspended the seven-year old peace talks with the MILF after rebels launched a series of deadly attacks in Mindanao.

The MILF said the rebels mounted the attacks after the Supreme Court stopped the signing of the territorial deal between Manila and the MILF because many of its provisions were unconstitutional. But the MILF said the peace panels have initially signed the Muslim homeland agreement in July in Malaysia, which is brokering the talks and it would not renegotiate the agreement.

It said government peace negotiators and Mrs. Arroyo's emissaries rushed the signing of the memorandum of agreement on the ancestral domain so she can include it in her state of the nation address on July 28.

The controversial deal also sparked massive protests from politicians opposed to the agreement that would have granted about four million Muslims their homeland in more than 700 villages across Mindanao.

Arroyo later scrapped the Muslim homeland deal and abolished the government team negotiating with the MILF and suspended the peace talks and vowed to achieve peace in the restive region through dialogues and consultations with the communities and political leaders.

Misuari in the past said his group has nothing to do with the peace talks between the government and the MILF. “We are not involved (in the peace process). We are not a party to that. We are not bound by any consequences of any peace agreement,” he said.

The MNLF, under Misuari, signed the peace deal with Manila in September 1996 ending decades of bloody war. After the peace agreement was signed, Misuari became the governor of the Muslim autonomous region. But despite the peace accord, there was a widespread disillusionment with the weak autonomy they were granted.

Under the peace accord, Manila would have to 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.

Misuari is now facing rebellion charges after his followers tried, but failed to overrun a major military base in Sulu province and another group held hostage over 100 people in Zamboanga City in 2001 in an attempt to stop the elections in the Muslim autonomous region. He fled to Sabah, his former refuge, but was arrested by the Malaysian authorities and sent back to Manila. Misuari is currently out on bail.

Early this year, the MNLF Central Committee said it removed Misuari as chairman of the former rebel group and installed Muslimin Sema, the Front's Secretary-General.

But Misuari insisted that he is still the chieftain of the MNLF and accused Sema, also the mayor of Cotabato City, as a traitor and so were those who supported Sema.

Misuari also earned the ire of the Malaysian government after he renewed calls of the claims of the Philippines to Sabah. In retaliation, Sabah Progressive Party President Datuk Yong Teck Lee, furious over the rumblings from Misuari, has called for stricter laws on Filipinos traveling to the oil-rich state.

The Malaysian official also said that the National Security Council should closely watch developments in the southern Philippines. Lee said the NSC and the Sabah State Security Committee should act on the problems brought about by Misuari's revival of the Sabah claims.

He also urged Kuala Lumpur to suspend the ferry service between Zamboanga and Sandakan and impose bonds on incoming visitors and to require ferry passengers to have return tickets and to step up operations against illegal Filipino immigrants.

The Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo lays claim to Sabah.

The Sultanate of Sulu was founded in 1457 and is believed to exist as a sovereign nation for at least 442 years. The Sultanate of Sulu obtained Sabah from Brunei as a gift for helping put down a rebellion on the Borneo Island.

The British leased Sabah and transferred control over the territory to Malaysia after the end of Second World War. Even after Borneo became part of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur still pays an annual rent of 5,000 ringgit to the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu Ismail Kiram.

Misuari said what Malaysia pays to the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo is but a pittance. (Mindanao Examiner)