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Urge peace talks; military commanders meet; Teodoro, Esperon lead command conference Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) leaders yesterday appealed to Malacañang and the leadership of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to call off further offensives against the MNLF on Sulu island and resolve through peace talks the issues involved. The two Moro organizations aired their appeal as Secretary Gilbert Teodoro of the Department of National Defense, who assumed his post only last Wednesday, led a command conference with Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and other top military officers on plans for the offensive against insurgents in Mindanao. MNLF Secretary General Muslimin Sema asked Malacañang to suspend operations in Sulu, saying the government should instead agree to holding the oft-delayed tripartite talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to review the 1996 Final Peace Agreement (FPA) between the government and the MNLF.
The MILF through Muhammad Ameen, chairman of the MILF Secretariat, also urged the AFP "to observe maximum restraint and call off its impending offensive against the forces loyal to jailed MNLF leader Nur Misuari. Ameen appealed to the government and the MNLF to use their peace mechanisms to convene a dialogue. Sema, mayor of Cotabato City, stressed that a peace dialogue to settle the security issues and other concerns in the province will be less costly than a bloody confrontation. "The MNLF has never turned its back on the government-MNLF peace accord, despite the seemingly recurring MNLF-military encounters, so it is sensible to iron out the peace and order problems in Sulu and other parts of Mindanao through peaceful dialogues," Sema said. Other MNLF leaders such as Sulu Rep. Yusoph Jikiri and Dr. Parouk S. Hussin, just back to Manila from a three-month stay in Sweden after the May 17-19 Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers (ICFM) of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in Islamabad, Pakistan, added their voices to the call for peaceful settlement of the clashes between the MNLF and the military. Hussin said, "I share the call to pursue a dialogue to resolve the fighting in Sulu. All our efforts to attain peace and economic progress will be jeopardized if the fighting continues." Hussin said he welcomes President Arroyo’s directive to General Esperon to go after lawless elements such as the Abu Sayyaf, but maximum restraint must be applied with the MNLF, being partner of the government in peace-building. Earlier, Sema, Jikiri, and Basilan Assemblyman Hatimal Hassan of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) asked the OIC to intervene to end the violence in which at least 57 MNLF and military men have been killed and thousands of people forced to flee their homes and farms. The OIC, composed of 57 Muslim and a few-nonMuslim states, brokered the Sept. 2, 1996, peace pact betweena the Philippine government and the MNLF. In a related development, the MILF has agreed with the government to reposition its fighters in Basilan to give way to the military’s operation against the Abu Sayyaf suspects in the beheading on July 10 of 10 Marines in Albarkah, Basilan. "We will designate an area of temporary stay where MILF armed fighters would stay to the duration of the military operation," said Mohagher Iqbal, MILF chief negotiator. The joint Coordinating Committees on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) headed by Brig. Gen. Edgardo Gurrea for the government and Von Al-Haq on the MILF side and the International Monitoring Team (IMT) led by Malaysia met in Cotabato City Sunday to work out the arrangement for the Moro rebels evasion of the military offensive.
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