MNLF optimistic on Final Peace Pact tripartite review

From the Manila Times (Jan 26): MNLF optimistic on Final Peace Pact tripartite review

The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) hierarchy is optimistic that a tripartite review on the implementation of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement (FPA) between Manila and the MNLF together with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) would have a positive impact on the peace process.

A tripartite high-level Ministerial Peace Review Process on the FPA was held January 25 to 26 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Ustadz Murshi Ibrahim, MNLF secretary general, told The Manila Times on Tuesday that the Moro people under Chairman Nur Misuari are optimistic that the tripartite review process will have a positive outcome on the peace process.

 

“The peace-loving people of Morolandia (Mindanao, Palawan, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and neighboring state of Sabah) are optimistic and hopeful that the tripartite peace review talks in Jeddah would generate a positive impact for the resolution of the century-old Moro political problem,” according to Ibrahim.

The MNLF’s representatives to the ministerial peace review included its Secretary General for Foreign Relations Ustadz Abdulbaki Abubakar; Dr. Mashur bin Ghalib Jundam, former dean of the Institute of Islamic Studies of the University of the Philippines-Diliman; Dr. Samsula Adju, former chancellor of the Mindanao State University-Sulu; Datu Kawten Usman and lawyer Randolph Parcasio.

Meanwhile, the Jeddah-based OIC, in its website, reiterated support for the Philippine government’s peace track with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), saying that the passage of a meaningful Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) is in harmony with the ongoing Tripartite Review of the 1996 FPA with the MNLF.

“The OIC has maintained ongoing interest and engagement in this process since its inception. OIC member states have, in their annual Council of Foreign Ministers Meetings, welcomed the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) and viewed it as a first step toward the fulfillment of the 1976 Tripoli and the 1996 Jakarta Agreements,” OIC Secretary General Iyad Ameen Madani said.

“Allow me to reaffirm our support to the efforts of the Philippine nation in the cause of peace and we remain committed to seeing a just and lasting solution that will benefit all the people of the Philippines,” Madani added.

The OIC secretary general was in Manila last year to help oversee the activation of the Bangsamoro Coordination Forum, a venue where the MILF and MNLF can harmonize their efforts to achieve genuine autonomy as envisioned in the 1987 Philippine Constitution.

http://www.manilatimes.net/mnlf-optimistic-on-final-peace-pact-tripartite-review/241563/