Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the current Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), H. E. Iyad bin Amin Madani, have met at the OIC General Headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on May 10 to discuss various issues particularly the relationship between the MNLF and the MILF and the peace pacts they respectedly signed with the Manila government.
Iyad assumed office on January 13, 2014; and his deputy is Essam Sharaf. He preceded by Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu.
Present during the meeting were other leaders of the MILF as follows: Sayed Abdulsamad, Haji Mahmur Estino of Sulu, and an MILF representative to the OIC, who was not named in the report. Joining the OIC secretary general were Ambassador Kassim Almasry and Dr. Hassan Abedein, head of the OIC Minorities Department.
The two leaders also discussed ways to strengthen the Bangsamoro Coordinating Forum (BCF) which is a mechanism whereby all the factions of the MNLF including that of Nur Misuari and the MILF will sit and jointly tackle common issues that affect the various groups and the Bangsamoro people in general.
The chair of the BCF will rotate among the senior leaders of the various factions.
According to a source privy to some details of the discussion told Maradika that the main concern of the OIC leader is how to connect the GPH-MNLF Final Peace Agreement with the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) which was signed between the MILF and the government in Manila on March 27, 2014.
Murad explained that the 42 consensus points agreed in GPH-MNLF peace negotiation were already subsumed in the CAB, while the three remaining issues which the MNLF claimed to have been not implemented (provisional government, wealth-sharing arrangement, and plebiscite for the entire 13 provinces and five cities) are also part of the CAB.
Two senior leaders of the MNLF have accepted the governorship of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), namely Nur Misuari and Parouk Hussin.
On the part of the MILF, the ARMM was offered to it on three occasions but it rejected it consistently. The MILF considered the ARMM as no political solution to the Bangsamoro Question. President also described it as a “failed experiment”.
Also in their discussion points were as follows:
1. Updates on the GPH-MILF peace process and the current situation in the Bangsamoro homeland;
2. Comparison between the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) and the GPH-MNLF 1996 Final Peace Agreement as an implementation of the 1976 Tripoli Agreement;
3. Concept of decommissioning of MILF under the normalization process. Chairman Murad explained that the decommissioned weapons will not be surrendered to the GPH or destroyed but to be deposited beyond use with the Independent Decommissioning Body (IDB) composed of one (1) representative each from Turkey, Brunei and Norway and two each from the MILF and the GPH. The decommissioning shall be gradually implemented synchronized with the establishment of the Police Force for the Bangsamoro, redeployment of the AFP, disbandment of Private Armies and implementation of Socio-Economic program for the MILF combatants in order to return to civilian life;
4. Possible economic intervention of the OIC through the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) by unfreezing the development funds for Southern Philippines and/or appropriate additional development funds for immediate implementation in the area especially during the transition period in order to sustain the impact of the peace agreement and ensure its success;
5. Accreditation of the Bangsamoro as the official observer to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation instead of the MNLF since the MNLF at this point in time does not represent the interest of the entire Muslims in Southern Philippines. Murad explained that the Bangsamoro is already recognized as the national identity of the native inhabitants of Mindanao and the islands who are majority Muslims. Representation to the OIC meetings or conferences can be agreed upon in the Bangsamoro Coordinating Forum or may be chosen by the Office of the Secretary General from nominees of the Bangsamoro Coordinating Forum;
6. Briefing on the inclusive policy of the MILF in the implementation process of the CAB and the establishment of the Bangsamoro government. We have been very consistent in our call to all brothers and sisters in other organizations including the MNLF and the entire population in the area to participate and be part of the process. In fact several factions of the MNLF have already declared their support to the CAB and are actively participating in the process; and
7. The MILF plan to transform itself into a mass based non-government organization undertaking socio-economic and Islamic awareness programs side by side with the Bangsamoro government.
http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/welcome/item/976-milf-chief-oic-secretary-general-discuss-moro-issue-in-jeddah
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