Ople briefed OIC ambassadors on scrapped peace negotiations with MILF

By Kazi Mahmood, IOL Southeast Asia Correspondent

KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 (IslamOnline.net) - The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) will most probably reject any terror tag the Filipino regime intend to throw on the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), well-informed sources in Kuala Lumpur told IslamOnline.net on Wednesday, May 14.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has been urged to play a mediator role in the conflict that is ravaging in southern Philippines.

In Manila, several members of the OIC confirmed they will reject any attempts to tag the MILF as a terror organization, saying the group is an insurgent movement and is fighting for legitimate rights in Mindanao.

Philippine President Gloria Arroyo on Saturday, May 10, ordered a hardline campaign against the MILF, including a diplomatic offensive to persuade Islamic nations to stop backing the independence fighters.

"We shall combine military action, stringent legal measures, full diplomatic pressure and community preparedness to bear upon the MILF threat," Arroyo said in a radio address.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople, Presidential Adviser on Peace Process Eduardo Ermita and Defense Undersecretary Tony Santos briefed the OIC ambassadors on the latest on peace negotiations that have been called off last week, Manila Times said on Tuesday.

President of Philippine Gloria Arroyo decided Tuesday, May 6, to scrap peace talks with the MILF, which were to be hosted by Malaysia.

“Some ambassadors of the OIC have raised the question of putting a terrorist tag on the MILF,” Ople said.

However, IslamOnline.net has information that the OIC will never accept the terror tag on the MILF, while Malaysia, Indonesia and some Arab members of the OIC will maintain their support for the MILF.

Malaysia is still pressing for a change of heart of both sides in the Mindanao conflict and has called upon the warring factions to come back to the negotiation table.

The MILF, Islamonline.net was informed by well-kept sources within the movement, has agreed in principle to cease hostilities under one condition, namely, that the military leaves the territories it captured during the last three months of renewed fighting in the Pikit, Davao and Maguindanao areas.

According to the MILF, the conflict took a different shape when the military decided to invade areas traditionally under MILF control.

The military attacked MILF-run camps in these regions after intelligence sources, close to the military, informed the government that the MILF was allegedly conducting paramilitary training and hiding “international terrorists” in these camps.

The intelligence also informed Manila that the MILF was hiding huge arms cache in the area and that these weapons would be used to destabilize the government.

Intelligence officers, disguised as locals and pro-MILF elements in Mindanao, reportedly infiltrated some of the MILF-run camps but failed to find any evidence of al-Qaeda or Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) within the ranks of one of the oldest independence movements in the South East Asian region.

However, the government in Manila came under intense pressure to dislodge the MILF from its positions in order to give it an upper hand in the final rounds of the negotiations in Kuala Lumpur, a member of the MILF told IslamOnline.net.

In Jakarta, the local police said on Saturday, May 10, that they believed the JI was behind the bombings in Koranadal.

Police said the judgment was based upon the interrogation of local terror suspects linked to the JI in Indonesia.

This information contradicted assertions by the police and military in Mindanao that the MILF was behind the bombing.

The Muslim independence movement did not claim the bombings but accepted that it did launch “military” raids in the areas of Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte and Koronadal.

It also said it was a tactical error to launch some of the attacks but added that this was in response to the violation of the peace deal between them and the military.

U.S. Broker

Meanwhile, the U.S. has been urged to intervene in the conflict as a peace broker rather than an active participant in the military’s bid to end the conflict with violence.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said on Monday, May 12, the impressive record of the United States as a peace broker qualifies it to mediate in the escalating conflict between the government and the MILF.

“I think it’s about time we sought the help of the United States in settling the conflict in the South. The U.S. has succeeded in bringing peace in Northern Ireland, where the Irish Republican Army was fighting the government. Now the foundation for peace in Northern Ireland is more stable,” Pimentel said according to Manila Times.

He noted that the U.S. still takes the lead role in brokering peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

More recently, the US has been trying to mend the fences between India and Pakistan by sending Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Pimentel added.

Bringing in the U.S. as a peace broker in Mindanao would be better appreciated by the Filipinos and the international community than the government’s plan to send combat troops to fight the Abu Sayyaf or to classify the MILF as a foreign terrorist organization, he said.