OIC’s intervention to unite MILF, MNLF underscored

From the Manila Bulletin (Jun 15): OIC’s intervention to unite MILF, MNLF underscored

Jolo, Sulu – The head of the House Committee on Muslim Affairs is urging all Muslim-Filipinos to extend their full support to the move of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to unite the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in an effort to achieve a lasting peace in Mindanao.

Representative Habib Tupay Loong (1st District, Sulu), chairman of the Committee on Muslim affairs, said the move of the OIC to thresh out the differences and unite the MILF and the MNLF is necessary to achieve peace in Mindanao.

He said the OIC’s move is very laudable, and should be supported by all Filipinos – including those living outside Mindanao.

Loong particularly urged the various Muslim sectors in the country to support the move of the OIC, and pray that the two groups would reconcile their differences in the name of the Bangsamoro people.

Loong disclosed that the Muslims in Southern Philippines are faced with a dilemma – having two Muslim liberation movements (MNLF and MILF), forging separate peace agreements with the Philippine government – practically with the same context.

“The peace deal with the MILF will just divide us as Muslims, and may only bring animosity and disenchantment to us, instead of final and lasting peace that we have been clamoring for,” Loong said.

Following the talks spearheaded by the OIC in Jeddah, a more comprehensive peace agreement is expected to be drawn – with both parties eventually ending their differences.

Earlier, Loong made an appeal to OIC Secretary General Eyed Amin Madani to exercise the OICs influence to invite the MNLF, MILF, and the Philippine government to a quadripartite meeting.

With the OIC as mediator, the MNLF and the MILF will be able to thresh out and resolve their differences, and to reconcile and integrate their separate agreements – the 1996 Final Peace Agreement, and the Bangsamoro Framework Agreement – so as to link them with the OIC-brokered Tripoli Agreement of 1976 in the interest of reaching a final and lasting peace.

http://www.mb.com.ph/oics-intervention-to-unite-milf-mnlf-underscored/