COTABATO CITY, 11 July — Thousands of Muslims gathered in this southern city on Monday, demanding the immediate resignation of Nur Misuari as governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to spare the people of further hardship.

“Governor Misuari should step down from office because of mismanagement and abuse of authority,” said Aishia Prudencio, spokeswoman of the United Youth of the Philippines and the National Youth Alliance of the Philippines.

“The earlier, the better,” she said, warning that Misuari’s continued stay as ARMM head only prolongs their misery of Muslims in the four-province region.

The protesters were led by estranged comrades of Misuari in the Moro National Liberation Front, the erstwhile main Muslim revolutionary group that signed a peace agreement with the national government in September 1996.

They gathered at the Cotabato City State Polytechnic College parade grounds and observers said the assembly appeared to have the sanction of some Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) members, such as Libya, whose ambassador was spotted during the assembly.

Salem Adem of the OIC ministerial committee of the eight and Tengku Jaafar Haron of Malaysia also attended the meeting of the executive council.

Last April, 15 top MNLF officials, including Secretary-General and Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema, formed an executive committee and replaced Misuari as Front chairman. 

In their rally on Monday, the anti-Misuari group urged  President Gloria Arroyo to appoint a new governor of the ARMM.

Misuari could no longer effectively govern the ARMM, said Prudencio.

“One reason why some leaders broke away from the MNLF in the past two years was the dictatorship, mismanagement and intransparency of MNLF leadership under then Chairman Nur Misuari,” Sema told MNLF supporters, who responded with applause.  Misuari had been in a holdover capacity as governor of the region when Congress twice postponed the regional election pending the passage of an enabling law for the expansion of ARMM pursuant to the Manila-MNLF peace pact.