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Monday, October 11, 2004
Murad losing control of MILF: Bangsamoro rep
By Jeff M. Tupas
KIDAPAWAN CITY -- A new rebel group could form once the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) enters into a peace agreement with government, said an alliance of Bangsamore people's organizations recently.
This is if MILF head Ebrahim Murad fails to explain clearly to his people the terms of the peace pact.
Murad said when interviewed separately that he welcomes the arrival of Malaysian ceasefire monitors who are helping the rebel group negotiate a peace settlement with government.
Nashreen Pangadapun, Maradeka secretary general, said they fear that Murad is losing his influence on his people.
Maradeka is among the non-government organizations given observer status in peace negotiations between the government and the separatist rebel group.
Pangadapun expressed fear a new but more fundamental group might split from the MILF organization, citing the seeming display of weak leadership by Murad.
He added that this new group would be composed of radical leaders and members of the MILF, all of them Middle East-trained, who have lost their trust in Murad's leadership because of his political convictions that have caused cynicism in the ranks.
"...His (Murad's) government is getting weak and if that will continue the radicals will lord it over the leaders of the MILF," Pangadapun pointed out.
The brittle leadership, Pangadapun said, is evident in the recent pronouncements of Murad about his group's willingness to enter into a peace pact with government.
"They can feel that Murad is inclined to a settlement that is patterned after the MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front) and government peace accord," Pangadapun said.
Murad announced over the weekend that the MILF was ready to sign a peace agreement with the government to end up 30 years of conflict in Mindanao.
A negotiated political settlement, Murad said, is the "most civilized and practical way to solve the Moro problem."
Murad on Sunday hit out at what he said were elements in the military and government who were out to "sabotage" the peace talks by painting his group as terrorists.
In an interview in the MILF's Camp Darapanan, Ebrahim said hostilities have dropped significantly since an advance team of monitors came earlier this month.
Another group of Malaysian monitors arrived in the Philippines Saturday and will travel later Sunday to Mindanao, the center of the rebels' 26-year insurgency to set up an Islamic state in the Philippines.
Malaysia and fellow Muslim nation Brunei are to monitor the progress of a 2002 truce signed by the MILF and the Philippines, paving the way for peace negotiations expected to resume this month in Kuala Lumpur.
But Ebrahim said there would be no peace with Manila if sections in the military remained intent on fanning allegations that the MILF sheltered militants from the al-Qaeda linked militant group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).
"Frankly, we feel there are people in government who don't want peace in Mindanao," Ebrahim said, stressing that while President Arroyo appeared sincere in negotiating, unnamed officials could be "manipulating the situation."
"This kind of position ruins the confidence building process and disrupts the negotiations," said Ebrahim, a battle-scarred 54-year-old who rose to become MILF chair last year when the influential Islamic scholar Hashim Salamat died of natural causes.
He charged that some corrupt officials within the military were selling automatic rifles to the insurgents while others were continuing to link them to JI.
JI is has been blamed for the October 2002 bombings of Bali, Indonesia and the recent car bomb outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta.
Maradeka, nevertheless, said there are fears that Murad would sign an agreement with government that was not reflective of the aspirations of the Bangsamoro people.
If this happens, the conflict in Mindanao would continue, Pangadapun said.
The Bangsamoro people are counting on the MILF to represent them.
Government's political package, Pangadapun said, entails a compromise that could leave the Bangsamoro people at the losing end.
"The peace accord might not be very comprehensive. It would not satisfy the desire of the people to put up genuine self-governance," he said.
The MILF was created and led by the late Salamat Hashim after it split from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), who advocated a moderate and conciliatory approach with government.
The MILF gained further strength when the MNLF, through its chair Nur Misuari, signed a peace agreement with government in 1987.
Murad took over the helms of MILF leadership after Hashim died last year.
(October 11, 2004 issue)
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