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Friday, November 25, 2005
Moro group leaders to attend SEA Games opening
By Ben O. Tesiorna
DAVAO CITY -- Top Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) officials will be attending the opening ceremonies of the 23rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila on November 27.
North Cotabato Governor Emmanuel Piñol said plane tickets have already been secured for MILF chair Al Hajj Murad Ebrahim, vice chair for political affairs Ghazali Jaafar, peace panel chair Mohaqher Iqbal, spokesperson Eid Kabalu, MILF committee for cessation of hostilities chair Von Al Haq, and Abdul Dataya.
Arrangements have also been made for their accommodation.
Piñol recommended to Philippine Sports Commission chair and Philippine SEA Games organizing committee chief operations officer William Ramirez that the MILF top brass be invited to the 23rd SEA Games opening program, saying this will show how far the peace efforts have gone.
"This will assure our Asean neighbors that both the government and the MILF are serious in achieving peace in Mindanao, which is crucial to security in the region in the face of continuing terrorist threats."
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is expected to attend the opening ceremony of the SEA Games.
Rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu said Ebrahim is not available but will send Jaafar, Iqbal, Von Al Haq, and Dataya to the opening ceremony on Monday. Kabalu will be accompanying the delegation as well.
"We feel so honored to attend, for the first time in MILF history, the opening ceremony of the SEA Games. And this will show the world that we are for peace and that the MILF has a strong commitment to the peace talks," Kabalu said.
He said the MILF strongly supports sports development and that many rebels regularly play soccer and basketball.
The group is set to leave Cotabato City for Manila on Saturday with Piñol.
Piñol said government negotiators Brigadier General Ramon Santos and Brigadier General Benjamin Dolorfino will be joining the MILF officials.
Formal invitations were already sent to MILF and that the government would issue safe passage to Jaafar's group, he added.
"Peace is crucial to the security, not only of Southeast Asia, but the world, in the face of continuing terror threats. The Filipinos and the Asean people are all united in this historical endeavor, let us all support the peace process," he said.
Arroyo opened peace talks in 2001 with the MILF, the country's largest Muslim separatist group, in an effort to put an end to more than three decades of fighting in the troubled, but mineral-rich region of Mindanao.
MILF rebels are known to actively operate in North Cotabato and in the past had attacked vital government and military targets. (Sun.Star Davao/With Sun.Star Zamboanga/Sunnex)
(November 25, 2005 issue)
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