Wednesday, May 17, 2006
16-member OIC delegation to
assess 1996 peace accord
REPRESENTATIVES from the influential Organization of Islamic
Conference (OIC) are scheduled to visit the southern
Philippines
to assess the status of the implementation of the 1996 peace
accord between the government and the Moro National Liberation
Front (MNLF), officials said Tuesday.
The delegation is arriving
Manila
Wednesday and would meet with Filipino officials before
proceeding to a meeting in
Marawi City
the next day. The group will also go to Maguindanao,
North
Cotabato
and Jolo island to meet with former Muslim rebel and security
leaders.
While in Marawi, the delegation will hold a conference with
officials about the Madrasah projects, Lake Lanao Watershed
Protection and Development Council, and National Power
Corporation on the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) in
Lake Lanao.
From Marawi City, they will proceed Thursday to the town of
Parang
in Maguindanao province to meet with former MNLF
rebels-turned-government soldiers.
The delegation would travel to
Cotabato
City on Friday where officials would brief them on the current
security situation and trade opportunities in the Muslim
autonomous region, which comprises the provinces of Maguindanao,
Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, and Jolo island.
Cotabato City Mayor Muslimen Sema, who is also a senior leader
of the MNLF, would meet with the OIC officials and discuss some
provisions in the peace agreement that Manila allegedly failed
to honor, among them the livelihood programs for former rebels.
"Mayor Sema will raise these issues to the OIC delegation
because these are what former rebels are complaining about. Many
former MNLF fighters are disgruntled and want government to
fulfill and fully honor the 1996 peace accord they signed with
the Philippine government," said Abdullah Cusain, the mayor's
spokesman said.
Cusain said the MNLF lauded the OIC for sending a mission to the
Philippines to assess the implementation of the peace deal. "We
hope the OIC delegation would be able to see the real situation
on the ground and finally make a comprehensive report about the
status of the peace agreement," he said.
The OIC mission, dubbed as "2006 OIC Field Visit in Mindanao"
has been slated following the 32nd Islamic Conference of Foreign
Ministers (ICEM) at Sana'a Yemen last year, where the
Philippines and the OIC Committee of the Eight agreed to send a
mission to the southern region to check on the status of the
remaining implementation requirement for the peace accord.
The MNLF under
Nur
Misuari signed the peace accord with President Fidel Ramos,
ending more then three decades of bloody fighting in the
southern Philippines, and accepted a limited autonomy over four
Muslim provinces that were later expanded into five provinces.
Misuari later became governor of the Muslim autonomous region,
but had accused the government of failing to honor the peace
agreement, and his forces attacked major military bases and held
more than 100 civilians hostage in Jolo and Zamboanga. He fled
to
Malaysia,
but was arrested and sent back to
Manila where
he is facing rebellion charges.
Secretary Jesus Dureza, presidential adviser on the peace
process, said the visit of the OIC delegation is 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 from
the larger MNLF in 1978 -- in an effort to end the hostilities
in the strife-torn, but mineral-rich region.
(May 17,
2006 issue)
