Peace talks key to Irish priest’s release

Foreign Undersecretary Rafael Seguis had interceded with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) for the release of kidnapped Irish priest Michael Sinnott in 2009, according to a confidential US Embassy cable released by WikiLeaks, the online whistle-blower.

Seguis was then head of the government panel negotiating peace with the MILF.

The leaked memo, titled “Kidnappers release Irish priest after one month of captivity” and dated Nov. 11, 2009, was the seventh of more than 1,790 cables which supposedly emanated from the US mission in Manila.

Sinnott, 79, was freed on Nov. 12, 2009, one month after he was seized in Pagadian City.

In a memo to the US Department of State, then US Ambassador Kristie Kenney said Seguis had told the embassy that “he had intervened with the MILF to push for Sinnott’s release, telling the MILF the peace process was at stake.”

Kenney recalled that during their talk on Nov. 13, 2009, Seguis said “he had reluctantly involved himself in this matter because of the extreme importance the Philippine government attached to Sinnott’s case.”

Seguis, however, “refrained from speculating about the extent of MILF responsibility for the kidnapping, saying the peace process should remain separate from such issues,” disclosed Kenney, now the US envoy to Thailand.

Kenney noted that the “details” of Sinnott’s kidnappers and how he was released “remain murky.”

“Having filed charges against rogue MILF members, the Philippine government will have a chance to make its case,” she said.

According to Kenney, “the kidnapping and allegations of MILF involvement come at a sensitive time in the ongoing peace negotiations” between Manila and the secessionist group.

“Philippine officials are expected to travel to Kuala Lumpur for further informal talks with the MILF on Nov. 16, and both sides have privately confided (to Kenney) that they are currently expediting their efforts to conclude a peace agreement before June 2010, the end of President Arroyo’s term,” she said.

She added: “While no group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, Philippine prosecutors have filed charges against as yet unnamed rogue members of the MILF. The mainstream MILF command denies that any of its members were involved in the abduction and noted that Philippine officials have publicly credited an MILF task force for assisting in the peaceful release of Sinnott.”

Another cable released by WikiLeaks said MILF leader Murad Ebrahim had tagged the United States as the “only country” that could help the rebel group solve its decades-long conflict with the Philippine government.

In an Oct. 19, 2009, memo, Kenney reported that a US Embassy team met with Ebrahim on Oct. 16, 2009, at the MILF camp in Maguindanao.

Ebrahim also called Americans “friends of the Bangsamoro” but stopped short of formally asking Washington to join the International Contract Group facilitating the peace talks.

Instead, Ebrahim “encouraged the US to move beyond its substantial development assistance to Mindanao to provide more political support to the peace process,” Kenney said.

“In good spirits and speaking English fluently, Murad said he looked forward to cooperating with the US government to achieve peace in the MILF homeland,” she added.