JEDDAH, 31 May — The issue of chairmanship of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) is heating up with two stalwarts fighting it out at the level of Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).
The two stalwarts in question are Nur Misuari, MNLF chairman and regional governor of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), and Dr. Parouk Hussin, Manila’s presidential adviser for Muslim Mindanao Concerns.
Hussin, who called on OIC Secretary-General Abdelouahed Belkaziz yesterday, told Arab News: “I briefed him on the state of affairs in the Philippines, Mindanao and MNLF. My meeting was both positive and fruitful.”
Asked whether Misuari’s alleged nonperformance as governor of the ARRM and assumption of his powers by an executive council of 15 members of the MNLF policy making central committee figured in the meeting, Hussin said: “The secretary-general knew the problem as he was already briefed about it.”
Belkaziz is quoted to have told Hussin: “We support the MNLF as it is good for the people of Muslim Mindanao. You should tackle your internal problems, in a democratic and peaceful manner for the good of your people.”
Belkaziz is further reported to have said that he was prepared for a continuous dialogue on behalf of the OIC in the interest of peace in southern Philippines.
Hussin is scheduled to leave for Europe today.
Meanwhile, Misuari, also concurrently chairman of the Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development (SPCPD) and special envoy of the Arroyo government to the 56 member countries of OIC, dismissed reports of his ouster from the chairmanship of the over 100 member central committee of MNLF by the “so-called MNLF executive council.”
In a statement released here yesterday the MNLF Central Committee said: “This internal problem was caused by one member of President Arroyo’s Cabinet to divide the MNLF and the Bangsamoro people and destroy the good relationship existing between the OIC and the MNLF.”
On the other hand, he added, “Rev. Absalom Cerveza, official spokesman of the MNLF Peace Panel, reported that political and religious leaders as well as major military commands of the Bangsamoro Armed Forces (BAF) held congresses in the past to repudiate the apparent power grab branding the move as divisive and contradictory to the sacred cause of the MNLF-organized Bangsamoro people’s struggle.”
Significantly, the 4th Bangsamoro People’s National Congress held in Zamboanga City earlier this year and attended by 2,500 delegates from all over Mindanao had unanimously reposed their trust in Misuari, the statement added.
According to the release, Misuari has appealed to the US to help solve the escalating Palestine-Israel conflict and bring about permanent peace in the Middle East.
He made this call in conformity with the one-day ministerial meeting of the OIC held in Doha, Qatar, last Saturday to discuss the worsening Middle East situation.
Leading a four member delegation, Misuari is presently here to attend a two-day OIC senior officials preparatory meeting at the Al Salam Holiday Inn Hotel, which ended yesterday. He is due to brief the OIC officials on the prevailing situation of the Bangsamoro people and the unstable prospect of the non-implementation of the MNLF Manila Peace Agreements signed in 1996.
The delegation includes Cerveza; Abdulbaki Abubakar, secretary general of the foreign affairs committee; Al-Haj Ibrahim S. Omar, chairman of the information committee; and Roida T. Misuari, chief adviser of the MNLF National Women’s Committee.
