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By Julmunir I. Jannaral, Correspondent
COTABATO CITY: A high official of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front
(MILF) here on Sunday urged the United States government to fulfill
its unfinished obligations towards the Moro people when despite the
vehement protest of the latter they were forced to join the
Filipinos as citizens of the Philippines in 1946.
Muhammad Ameen, chairman of the Moro separatist
group Central Committee secretariat, said the US government carries
“an unfinished obligation to the Moro people when they turned them
over to the Filipinos despite their protestations in the grant of
independence in 1946.”
This must be rectified, he said, referring to
the Moros’ refusal to become part of the Philippines. “This
historical error must be corrected immediately or the fighting in
Mindanao escalates,” said Ameen.
Political observers here in Central Mindanao
said “when Ameen talks, it is tantamount as if Murad talks
also.” That is, any official statement that he pronounced reflects
that of the highest leadership of the MILF Central Committee chaired
by Al Haj Murad Ebrahim.
However, Ameen took exception of the recent
meeting of President Gloria Arroyo with US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice in Lima, Peru on the occasion of the 16th
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC ) meeting that was held last
month from November 22 to 23.
Press Secretary Jesus Dureza was quoted in a
media report that the President was asked by Rice on the status of
the peace process with the Moro separatist group.
“President Arroyo explained our new paradigm
in pursuing the peace talks with the Moro rebels based on more
authentic consultations and not dictated by any armed group,” said
Dureza, adding the government is ready to return to the negotiating
table with the Moro separatist group once consultations are
concluded with stakeholder communities. The government has time and
again also said that it would talk peace with the MILF rebels based
on DDR (disarmament, demobilization, and rehabilitation).
Ameen interpreted the gesture of the US
Secretary of State in making the query as a continuing concern of
the United States government for the peaceful resolution of the
decades-old Moro problem.
“This is a rare occasion that a high American
official ever make a statement of the resolution of the Moro
problem, and therefore, this deserved commendation and
appreciation,” Ameen said in the Moro rebel’s interactive
website.
He also thanked US Ambassador Kristie Kenney for
visiting the Moro ‘bakwit’ or internally displaced persons in
Datu Odin Sinsuat, Shariff Kabun-suan, in the Autonomous Region in
Muslim Mindanao and her announcement of the new $2.5 million (about
P120 million) relief assistance for the individuals and families of
the thousands of evacuees who were forced to abandon the comfort of
their homes to evade the hostilities between the Moro rebels and
military.
As this developed, Eid Kabalu, Moro separatist
group spokesman and chief of civil-military affairs, said the US
interest towards the peaceful resolution of the Mindanao conflict is
highly welcome to the Muslim communities.
”It is the MILF’s policy to settle the
conflict peacefully and we welcome any contribution from any
party,” said Kabalu.
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