DAVAO CITY, 1 July — A prominent official of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) had been ordered to “desist” from giving interviews to the mass media in the name of the separatist group.

Sharif Mahsim Julabbi, the supposed commander of the MILF for Western Mindanao, was also told in a letter to defer to the central committee especially when it comes to sensitive issues involving the Front.

The letter dated June 26 was signed Mohagher Iqbal, chair of the group’s Information Committee, pursuant to an instruction of the MILF Central Committee dated June 24, 2002.

Eid Kabalu is the officially designated MILF spokesman.

Julabbi’s tendency to issue press statements that oftentimes contradicted the MILF’s official position has reportedly been a source of dismay among the Front’s leadership.

“Julabbi sometimes even carries the title of Co-Chairman for the MILF in Western Mindanao, a position does not exist in the MILF organizational structure,” one MILF official told Arab News.

Meanwhile, representatives of the government and MILF, together with the members of the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCHs), met yesterday for the first time since the signing of a “joint communiqué” in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on May 6.

In their meeting in Davao City, the government panel submitted its own version of the proposed working structure between the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group and the CCCHs, pursuant to the joint communiqué.

The MILF representatives accepted the working structure and said they will discuss it with their “principal” for final decision, said Mike Pasigan, chair of the MILF-CCCH Secretariat.

The Ad Hoc group has been tasked specifically to apprehend criminal groups as defined in the “Implementing Guidelines on the Security Aspects of the Tripoli Agreement on Peace of 2001,” dated and signed at Kuala Lumpur on Aug. 7, 2001.

The Ad Hoc group’s mandate, however, has to carried out in tandem with the CCCHs, presumably to avoid overlapping of functions and responsibilities, thereby ensuring the greater success of this noble objective.