Sunday, March 23, 2008 OIC urges MILF-MNLF to coordinate peace efforts By Ben O. Tesiorna
THE Organization of Islamic Conference called on the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) to coordinate their efforts for peace and development of the Bangsamoro people in Mindanao.
The call was made during the "Summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference" held in Dhakar, Republic of Senegal last March 13 to 14 where a resolution was passed to such effect.
The said resolution is the 14th of the 16-item resolutions that dealt with the "Questions of Muslims in Southern Philippines," specifically on the issue of unity. It was the Eleventh Session of the Islamic Summit Conference that takes place every three years.
The OIC Summit also took note of the ongoing negotiations between the Philippine government and the MILF, with a hope that the peace negotiations would yield positive results.
The MILF sent a three-man delegation, composed of a member of the Front Central Committee, a provincial chairman from Southern Sulu, and a member of the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA).
The three factions of the MNLF, on the other hand, sent a larger group with Assemblyman Hatimil Hassan, Mayor Isnaji Alvarez, former Muslim Affairs Executive Director Habib Mujahab, Romeo Sema, nephew of Cotabato City Mayor Moslimin Sema, representing the MNLF-Executive Committee; and Sharif Zain Jali, and an American lady, representing the MNLF-Misuari.
Visibly absent was Sheikh Abdulbaki Abubakar, who is considered a mainstay of the MNLF delegation to the OIC.
This was the second summit conference of the OIC in Senegal that the MILF sent representatives. The first was on December 9 to 12, 1990 when the MILF sent Mohagher Iqbal, chairman of its information committee, and Sheikh Abdulfatah Delna.
Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, chair of the MILF central committee, earlier visited the headquarters of the OIC in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and briefed the OIC Secretary General of the progress of the GRP-MILF Peace Talks.
He told the OIC officials that the MILF, in its talks with the government, does not intend to set aside what the MNLF and the Bangsamoro people have achieved, but to complement the GRP-MNLF Final Agreement of September 2, 1996.
"We are willing to fuse the best of the FPA and what we sign with the government," he told the OIC officials.
