Gov’t, MILF try to avoid stalemate

Government and Moro rebel negotiators are expected to pull the peace talks out of a near stalemate when they meet again today in Kuala Lumpur.

The talks aim to end over four decades of Moro rebellion in Mindanao.

Both parties have already agreed to build a genuinely autonomous governance setup for the Moro people. But days before the Kuala Lumpur meeting, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) insisted on a special region comprising predominantly Moro areas with far greater political and economic powers than the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The MILF “cannot slide down further,” it said in a statement. The rebels agreed to drop its secessionist stance for political autonomy under the Philippine state when it entered into Malaysian-facilitated talks in 2001.

Other signs of a standoff in the talks have emerged.

Speaking before a gathering of political scientists in Cagayan de Oro City over a week ago, chief MILF negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said a “forthcoming breakthrough” could only be achieved if “government sees the light of our proposal for a state-substate asymmetrical arrangement and adopt it.”

“I have to tell you very directly that signing an agreement with the government now can only happen if the MILF agrees to its formula or it agrees to ours,” Iqbal said.

During the 26th exploratory meeting last month, chief government negotiator Marvic Leonen said he was “guardedly optimistic” over the outcome of the talks.

Leonen failed to firm up a peace pact during the first quarter as he planned. The last meeting of the two parties was characterized by “hard bargaining” on the substantive issues of power-sharing, wealth-sharing, territory and mode of transition into a future Moro self-governance entity that enjoys genuine autonomy from the central government.

During yesterday’s kick-off rites, Iqbal said the panels were expecting to receive a high official from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (formerly called the Organization of the Islamic Conference) as observer in the talks. Comprising 57 member-states, the pan-Islamic grouping is the largest multilateral organization outside of the United Nations.

Last month, the panels accorded the OIC secretary general an observer role, but the official assigned a senior member instead.

MILF peace panel member Abhoud Syed Lingga earlier said the involvement of the OIC “will increase threefold the chances of signing an agreement between the two parties.”

Having an observer is an innovation in the conduct of the negotiations. The closest mechanism to an observer is the International Contact Group (ICG), which was created in September 2009 “to exert proper leverage and to sustain the interest of the parties” in the negotiations and ensure compliance of mutually agreed obligations.

Based on its formal mandate, the ICG can be called upon to assist the parties in tapping “recognized experts, resource persons or groups on specific issues” or in helping “resolve substantive issues based on an agreed agenda.”

It can also “give advice on discreet basis in coordination with the parties and the facilitator.”

In every exploratory meeting, ICG representatives attend the proceedings. Currently, the group is composed of state members Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, Turkey and Japan; and nonstate entities The Asia Foundation, Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, Muhammadiyah and the Conciliation Resources.

For the past four decades, the OIC has has played significant roles in dealing with the Moro conflict and fostering peace in Mindanao. In the 1970s, it helped broker a Libyan-facilitated peace process between the government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) that resulted in the landmark Tripoli Agreement of 1976.

Under the pact, the MNLF abandoned its goal of independence and settled for political autonomy in historically Moro-dominated areas.

The OIC also helped push to their conclusion in 1996 the Indonesian-mediated talks to define the modality to implement the 1976 agreement.

Until today, the OIC maintained a Peace Committee for the Southern Philippines with a designated special envoy to help oversee implementation of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement with the MNLF. The MILF broke away from the MNLF in 1978.

During a summit in Tajikistan in May 2010, the OIC formally asked the MNLF and MILF to unite in pushing forward the Bangsamoro cause.