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OIC Urges MILF To Negotiate Peace
by Kazi Mahmood for IslamOnline
KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was warned Sunday by the 56-member Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to return to the negotiating table or risk desertion by its supporters.
The OIC sent a stern warning to Moro separatists as the Philippine government and MILF officers continue to trade charges over recent clashes in Mindanao, said Philippines special ambassador in Jeddah, Raul Rabe.
The OIC's secretary-general, Abdulouahed Belkeziz, reportedly gave Rabe assurances of the international body's commitment to peace in Mindanao.
In a meeting held last week with Rabe in Jeddah, Belkeziz conveyed that the Muslim union wanted the MILF to acknowledge the peace proposal offered by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's administration and halt its offensives against the military in deference to the unilateral ceasefire.
The Muslim separatist group, operating mainly in the country's southern Mindanao region, has, for its part, accused the government of violating a unilateral ceasefire, which Arroyo's administration declared last month.
An MILF commander, Shariff Julabbi, claimed Sunday that the Filipino military has been intruding upon separatist territory since the declaration of the truce, leaving the MILF no choice but to preempt government offensives.
Defending recent MILF attacks, Julabbi said, "Government forces continue to encroach or roam in our territories, and we will not allow it. Troops are patrolling areas controlled by the MILF, so attacks or hostilities are unavoidable."
According to Julabbi, clashes will only cease if Philippine soldiers stay in their barracks.
The MILF issued warnings to the international community that it will not engage in talks if the military does not disengage itself from attacking its forces in Mindanao.
It also said the continued appeal for peace talks by Arroyo's regime had a hidden agenda in which the MILF would be shown as the culprit not wanting a negotiated peace settlement.
The Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs said the MILF should refrain from adopting war in the light of all the peace offering, prompting the breakaway movement to attack the Arroyo regime.
The MILF said the current regime in Manila was in place thanks to the tacit support of the military, and that without it, the government would collapse. The MILF also said it had little faith in Estrada's defunct regime due to the involvement of military elements against the peace process in Mindanao.
The OIC has granted observer status to the MILF in the world's largest Muslim union. The MILF is a breakaway military group from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), placing much emphasis on the Islamization of the Mindanao region.
The MNLF entered a truce in the early 1990s with the Philippine government and is now running the Autonomous Region of Mindanao with Nur Misuari, of the MNLF, as governor.
The MILF says the trial autonomy status fro the region is a failure and has prompted the group to take up arms against the abusive and colonialist Philippine government, which is occupying Bangsamoro land.
During the Jeddah meeting, Rabe said he told Belkeziz that Arroyo's administration has in addition to the unilateral truce, declared a suspension of military operations (Somo) against the MILF in preparation for new round of peace talks.
According to Belkeziz, the ceasefire and Somo were favorable steps toward promoting an enduring peace and development in the southern Philippines. He expects the MILF to respond positively to these initiatives.
In recent clashes in Mindanao, the MILF attacked a Filipino army convoy and an outpost in two southern provinces. They fired anti-tank rockets on the convoy in Barira town in Maguindanao province last Saturday, wounding five soldiers, according to official reports sent to IslamOnline by the MILF.
The MILF has a strong presence in Maguindanao, approximately 910 kilometers south of Manila.
The MILF is one of two Muslim groups that have been waging a war for an independent Islamic state in Mindanao for more than two decades. The group says it is fighting the longest war in the history of mankind.
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