“Should a genuine, practical, effective, durable peace come about…we would have access to up to $30 million dollars in (aid) programs,” Ricciardone said

Rexcel Sorza, IOL Correspondent

ILOILO CITY, Philippines, October 2 (IslamOnline.net) – The U.S. announced it would not release the multimillion-dollar assistance package it promised for Mindanao once a peace agreement is signed between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Philippine government if the MILF does not cut alleged ties with outlaws and terrorists.

“A meaningful peace must go beyond nice words, whether on paper or at press conferences. The U.S. will not provide economic development assistance in areas controlled by the MILF, if that organization maintains its ties to outlaws, terrorists in violation of the written testimony of Chairman Salamat [Hashim] in his last days,” U.S. Ambassador to Manila Francis Ricciardone said Wednesday, October 1.

Manila announced on September 26 that a Multi-Donor Trust Fund, with an undisclosed sum amounting to multimillion-dollars, has been put together by the World Bank and the United States Institute for Peace (USIP) and would be available once a peace accord is inked by both parties.

Ricciardone was maintaining Washington’s earlier conjecture that the MILF, which has been fighting for the Bangsamoro homeland in Mindanao for nearly three decades, has ties with Jemaah Islamiyah, a group which Washington designated as a “foreign terrorist organization” operating within Southeast Asia.

Addressing the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines in Manila, he said: “We are particularly concerned about the continuing presence in Mindanao of the Jemaah Islamiyah, a foreign terrorist group outlawed by the U.N.

“The JI does not bring peace and development, but only death and destruction to all who deal with it.”

The American ambassador pointed out that “at a time when the MILF is looking for a United Nations interest in its cause, it makes no sense if the MILF is having anything to do with a foreign terrorist organization outlawed by the United Nations.”

When asked if the U.S. has established the link between the JI and MILF, Ricciardone replied, “because of some of the sensitivity of the information, I will have to leave it at a statement of concern. I would not be stating that concern unless we had excellent grounds for it.”

What he stressed that the U.S. is “very, very concerned” about JI’s alleged presence in Mindanao, though he couldn’t tell if the presence of alleged JI members was increasing.

The deceased MILF leader had also maintained that terrorism was "an anathema to the teachings of Islam."

The MILF, which has an estimated 12,500 fighters, has since denied any relationship with Jemaah Islamiyah or any other groups tagged by the U.S. as terrorist.

The Muslim group offered to help the government of the Phillipines in hunting down Fathur Rohman Al Ghozi, a JI member, who has escaped from a supposed maximum security detention in July.

Al Ghozi allaged JI fighters have had trainings within MILF camps in the Philippines’ second largest island of Mindanao.

Eid Kabalu, MILF spokesman, has said in previous interviews with IslamOnline.net that th group does not cuddle nor have provided shelter to any terrorist.

He often emphasized that MILF does not have ties with the Jemaah Islamiyah, Al-Qaeda or any terrorist group.

Aid Package

Having offered to help facilitate the resumption of the MILF-Manila peace negotiations, which is expected to resume in October through the help of Malaysia, Ricciardone maintained optimism that a lasting peace accord would be realized soon.

“If this happy eventuality does unfold soon, it will be thanks to the vision and courage of the leaders of the two parties to the conflict and also to supportive parties like Malaysia who have shepherded this process over many years.”

The American ambassador disclosed that the U.S. Congress has earmarked U.S. $30 million dollars “to support a peace process between the Government of the Philippines and the MILF.”

And “should a genuine, practical, effective, durable peace come about, that very quickly,” Ricciardone said, “we would have access to up to $30 million dollars in programs. Not direct funding, but in development programs that we would make available in those areas, and we have to believe that would be a real shot in the arm and really help a peace take root in that area.”

The amount excludes the money which has been set aside by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for the Philippines, which in the past fiscal year which just ended September 30, amounted to U.S. $74 or U.S. $84 million dollars.

Citing Salamat’s peace efforts, Ricciardone recalled that : “Only weeks before his death, he evidently had concluded that it was time to put the MILF on a new course in the campaign for the rights of the Bangsamoro people. A course neither of surrender, nor of defeat, but rather a far more heroic and difficult choice - that of peaceful and legitimate political struggle.

“If and when his successors can come to terms with the Government of the Philippines to build peace and to develop Mindanao for the future of its children after a generation of war and lawlessness, the United States (and I dare say many others) will be proud to support that development process.”

Ricciardone said the “letter the late chairman of the MILF (wrote) made very clear that the organization condemns and forswears terrorism, and violence and sees itself committed on a path for peace, and wishes to pursue the interests of the Bangsamoro or people through effective and legitimate means. That’s what we understood that letter to mean.”

“It was on that basis that we went ahead and put some real muscle behind the process of peace. We’ve offered to do whatever we can, lend whatever expertise we can to through the United States Institute of Peace, which has worldwide experience in conflict resolution and in development, to follow up conflicts that have been resolved or are being resolved---economic development,” he stressed.