MANILA, 22 May 2006 — The Philippine government yesterday rejected an appeal by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to release a jailed Muslim leader to help boost peace efforts in the southern region of Mindanao.
Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye stressed that only the courts could decide on the release of Nur Misuari, leader of the former separatist group Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).
“This is exclusively within the sole prerogative and wisdom of the court trying his case,” he said. “On the part of the executive branch, it has extended all the medical assistance and humanitarian treatment to Misuari that is possible under the law, also in deference to the OIC.
“The rest is left to the independent judgment of the court,” he said.
An OIC contingent visiting Mindanao to check on implementation of the MNLF-Philippine peace accord on Saturday called on Arroyo to free Misuari, saying such a move would be a “catalyst” for lasting peace in the south.
Bunye assured the OIC that Misuari’s detention “should not be a hindrance” to the peace process, adding that the government was honoring the terms of the 1996 deal.
Sayed Kassem el-Masry, an Egyptian diplomat and head of the OIC mission, said the Council wanted Misuari released so he could lead an MNLF team to a meeting in Saudi Arabia in July to save the peace deal.
“We believe that Misuari is an indispensable partner for the peace if the peace agreement has to be reached,” said El Masry, who is proposing the tripartite meeting between the Philippine government, the MNLF and the OIC in Saudi Arabia.
“The meeting will review everything, looking at all the obstacles and find ways and means to overcome them,” he said, adding the 57-member Muslim body was “disturbed” by the situation on Jolo that led to intense fighting in 2005.
Misuari has been detained since 2002 while on trial for rebellion for leading MNLF forces in simultaneous attacks on army detachments on Jolo Island, 1,000 kilometers south of Manila, killing more than 100 people. He fled to Malaysia, but was arrested on arrival there.
Misuari became governor of the Autonomous Muslim Region in Mindanao (ARMM) right after signing the pact, but he rebelled again after his bid to keep his post was rejected by Manila.
The envoys visited Mindanao last week to see how communities scarred by four decades of conflict are faring and were expected to report their findings next month during an OIC ministerial meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Hundreds of uniformed and armed MNLF members, including women and child warriors, greeted the OIC delegation with shouts of “Allahu Akbar,” on Jolo’s Indanan town, the birthplace of the Muslim rebel movement in the late 1960s.
“We’re happy the OIC has finally come to see our situation and to help find the means to fully implement the peace agreement,” said Khaid Ajibun, the most senior MNLF field commander, told reporters.
MNLF leaders have been complaining to the OIC since 1999, accusing Manila of reneging on its commitments under the peace deal after Filipino lawmakers watered down a law creating a Muslim autonomous region in the south.
Secretary Jesus Dureza, the Philippine presidential adviser on the peace process, accompanied the OIC team along with other members of the government’s peace panel and met with Misuari’s lieutenants.
Last year, more than 1,400 disgruntled MNLF members threatened to abandon the 1996 peace agreement they signed with Manila.
“MNLF commanders all over Mindanao are getting restless over the perceived failure of the government to fulfill its obligations. I am afraid that if the government does not take this seriously, the negative sentiments of our armed combatants can run out of proportion and might lead to eventual abandonment of the agreement,” said Mayor Muslimin Sema of Cotabato City, who is the secretary-general of the MNLF.
The MNLF also boycotted the ARMM elections last year after the government supported Maguindanao town mayor Datu Zaldy Ampatuan, a staunch ally of President Gloria Arroyo, instead of MNLF candidates.
