COTABATO CITY, 12 August — The Misuari faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) yesterday dismissed as “an illusion” the unity pact forged between a rival faction and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Friday.
“The MILF is working for independence while the MNLF has agreed to genuine autonomy,” Absalom Cervesa, a close aide of Misuari said yesterday.
Cervesa, who represents the Christians in the MNLF, said the MILF and the MNLF cannot possibly come together before because they have separate objectives.
“How can you unite those calling for independence and those who agreed for autonomy in the same areas?” he asked in a telephone interview with DXMS.
“It’s difficult to reunite a dog and a cat, tie their tails and both would go in different directions,” Cervesa said.
The agreement was forged between the MILF and the MNLF faction led by the 15-member executive council which earlier eased out Misuari as chairman of the Muslim revolutionary group.
MILF officials were optimistic about achieving something positive as a result of the unity pact.
Ghadzali Jaafar, the MILF’s vice chair for political affairs, said the unity pact does not necessarily mean that the armed forces of the MNLF and MILF would be unified.
“We will support each other, work for the welfare of our people but we will maintain our organizational independence,” he said.
“It is not a merger. The identities of the organizations will be maintained,” added MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu.
Al-Haj Murad Ebrahim, the MILF’s vice chairman for
military affairs who led the talks with MNLF representatives, clarified that the agreement is actually a “general framework for unity” between the two organizations.
Murad Ebrahim forged the agreement on Friday with Hatimil Hassan, vice chairman of the MNLF faction that broke away from ur Misuari in April. The ceremonial signing will be done on Aug. 7 in time for the scheduled visit to Malaysia of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Murad is the head of the MILF panel that is holding peace talks with the Philippine government panel in Kuala Lumpur since last week.
The talks are to resume today to tackle the unfinished task of formulating implementing guidelines of the Tripoli Agreement on Peace signed between the two sides on June 22, 2001 in Tripoli, Libya.
MNLF Secretary-General and Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema, a member of the MNLF council that toppled Misuari, said the general framework for unity was signed in Malaysia with Najib Tun Razak, Malaysia’s defense minister, as a witness.
The joint community assured that the MILF’s reuniting with the latter would not constitute a military threat to the government. “The MNLF will continue to honor its commitment to the final peace agreement. Peace, freedom and progress are the only causes for which the draft agreement was reached by the two fronts,” it said.
