The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) held another round of talks in Zamboanga City to work out a “formula of unity in diversity.”
According to the MILF, the talks were held Dec. 15, after a meeting in Davao City last October and another in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) last Dec. 6 and 7.

The meeting stemmed from efforts by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to fast track the organization of the Bangsamoro Consultative Forum (BCF), it added.

Representing the MILF were Abdulla Camlian, a member of the MILF peace panel, and Hadji Salem Sahaji, an MILF political officer based in Western Mindanao.

The MILF added the MNLF was represented by 15 of its leaders, some of whom are senior members of its central Committee.

Last Dec. 6 and 7, the two groups met in Jeddah under the sponsorship of the OIC to discuss the creation of a coordinating council where all major Moro revolutionary organizations will be represented.

Camlian said the Zamboanga City meeting was a follow-up to the initial dialogue that took place in Maharlika Village in Taguig City last November.

He said the MILF-MNLF meeting in Zamboanga City started at 10:00 a.m. and adjourned at 4:30 p.m., and centered on the urgency and the need to pursue and implement the provisions of the Tajikistan Resolution of the OIC calling for unity, cooperation and solidarity of the MILF, MNLF, and the Bangsamoro.

During the meeting, the MILF said a prominent leader of the MNLF “underscored the stark reality that the aspirations of the Bangsamoro have yet to be achieved. He reminded the group not to lose sight of the litany of failures and disappointments” over the years.

For his part, Camlian conveyed the greetings of the MILF Leadership to the MNLF and reiterated the MILF’s stand to support the MNLF’s call for the government to fully implement the 1996 Final Peace Agreement (FPA).

But he said the present talks between the MNLF and government is no longer a negotiation but merely a review of the implementation of such agreements, adding it had already concluded in Solo, Indonesia early this year.

“There is only one track of negotiations left which is the GPH- MILF negotiation track,” he stressed.
Camlian declined to comment further on the outcome of the meeting, saying the deliberations were given in confidence and should not be breached.

“It is for internal consumptions among brothers,” he said.