Misuari not invited to OIC meeting

Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leader Nur Misuari (C) addresses his armed followers in one of their camps in Indanan, Sulu, on the southern island of Mindanao. AFP FILE PHOTO

BONGAO, Tawi-Tawi, Philippine—Nur Misuari, the founding chair of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), is not included in the list of those invited to attend the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) ministerial meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia within June.

In a press briefing here Wednesday, Egyptian Ambassador Mahmoud Mostafa Ahmed Mohamed, head of the eight-member OIC delegation team, said Misuari was not included in the list of invitees.

“The invitations have been forwarded to some leaders (of the MNLF). I am not sure if it was forwarded to Mr. Misuari or not, but the (list of) names I have seen, they did not include Nur Misuari,” Mohamed said.

The MNLF have several factions, one of which is led by Misuari.

When asked how the OIC has been seeing Misuari’s role now, he being on the run from the government, Mohamed said: “This question has no answer. If there is an answer, it will be within the Secretariat of the OIC.”

But Mohamed said the tripartite review on the implementation of the peace agreement between the government and the MNLF would be one of the main considerations in the said meeting.

“The point about Misuari, about this issue, as you know, is a very sensitive thing. The way how OIC will deal with that will be maybe discussed in the next ministerial meeting from 18 to 19 June,” Mohamed said.

Mohamed was here with envoys from Turkey, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Pakistan, Iraq and Malaysia to visit government projects, like an elementary school and health center, under the Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan program.

Peace Adviser Teresita Deles said with or without Misuari, the Philippine government has remained committed to deliver projects not just for one organization but to the communities.

“It has always been our position that we are talking to the MNLF, not to one person. The reason we talked to Misuari was because he was heading an organization, so the organization is what is essential. But even more important than the organization are the communities, that is why we are here down in the communities and that is why projects go straight to communities,” Deles added.

Misuari has been in hiding since his followers tried to attack Zamboanga City in September 2013. The Zamboanga Siege lasted for 23 days, leaving hundreds of thousands of residents homeless and scores of soldiers, policemen and MNLF forces dead.

Idris Tayeb Lamin, the Media and Cultural Attache of Libya, said peace and development projects must focus on children, education and livelihood and

must do away with politics and Misuari.

Lamin, in an interview, admitted that his country’s leader, Muammar Qaddafi, was responsible for sending arms to the Philippines for the MNLF.

“But this is now beyond Misuari,” Lamin said, adding that he was touched upon seeing schoolchildren at the Yusop Dais Elementary School waving flags to welcome the OIC delegation.

The schoolchildren were children and grandchildren of MNLF forces under the MNLF Tawitawi State Revolutionary Command.

“We are here to reiterate and remind the national government that it still needs to implement fully the 1996 Peace Agreement,” Laurel Tahir, the recognized leader of the MNLF here, said in an interview.

Tahir said he was not in the position to question the OIC’s statement about Misuari, but stressed that “all we want is for the government to fulfill its promises based on the 1996 peace accord.”

The MNLF forces in Tawi-Tawi still consider Misuari as their leader.

Ambrodin Salahuddin, known as MNLF Commander Amlo, expressed concern about livelihood projects and getting jobs for the people.

“What’s the use of having so many roads, bridges and ports if our people, former MNLF combatants and their children, have no livelihood?” he asked.

Salahuddin, however, said he was glad to see the OIC delegates coming here as “they can help us in investing projects where our people will be employed.”

Misuari’s lawyer Emmanuel Fontanillas, in a text message to the Inquirer, said they had expected OIC to take the position of not inviting Misuari.

“It’s a diplomatic protocol from the OIC members who have diplomatic relationship with the Philippines and it will be a diplomatic embarrassment to invite the Chairman (Misuari). For us it has no effect if there are other MNLF delegates who are invited to ministerial meeting,” Fontanilla said.