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By Al Jacinto, Correspondent
MAGUINDANAO: The Philippines may release a
jailed former Muslim rebel leader and would send him to exile in
Libya in exchange for his freedom.
Nur Misuari, chairman of the Moro National
Liberation Front (MNLF), is facing rebellion charges for calling on
his followers to overrun a major military base in Sulu province in
southern Mindanao in 2001. The attack failed but caused the death of
more than 100 persons. Simultaneously, Misuari’s other followers
held over 100 civilians in nearby Zamboanga City.
Sources close to Misuari on Tuesday said he may
be freed this year on condition that he will go to exile in Libya,
which had previously supported the MNLF struggle for independence in
the Philippines.
“There is an ongoing negotiation for Misuari
to leave the country for good, to go to exile in Libya and never to
return, and all these in exchange for his freedom,” a source told
the Mindanao Examiner newspaper in Zamboanga. One of Misuari’s
wives and dozens of loyal supporters are also facing rebellion
charges but are still at large.
It was unknown whether Tripoli was aware or part
of the plan, but Seif al Islam, the son of Libyan strongman Muammar
al-Gaddafi, and the former Libyan ambassador to the Philippines,
Salem Adam, were in Manila last year.
The Philippines’ largest Muslim rebel group,
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), has also urged Manila to free
Misuari. Six of Misuari’s followers who were also accused of
rebellion were freed earlier this month.
“We reiterate our calls for the Arroyo
government to free our brother Nur Misuari,” Eid Kabalu, an MILF
spokesman, said during a separate interview. “He is a Muslim, a
Bangsamoro brother, and he should also be freed as others were
pardoned and released from jail just like the six MNLF followers of
brother Nur and the others like former President Joseph Estrada and
other high-profile prisoners.”
Estrada, who was convicted of plunder, was
granted absolute pardon last year by President Gloria Arroyo.
“Brother Nur is used to that kind of life,”
Kabalu said. “He was on exile in Libya and in Malaysia during the
Muslim secessionist war in Mindanao. It is nothing new.”
Misuari was on self-exile in Libya and the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia until Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos
was ousted and the Corazon Aquino government was installed in
1986.
He signed a peace deal with Manila in September
1996 ending decades of separatist war. After the peace agreement was
signed, Misuari became the governor of the Muslim autonomous region
in Mindanao. This autonomous region was meant to implement the 1976
Tripoli Agreement between Manila and the MNLF. But despite the peace
accord, there was a widespread disillusionment with the weak
autonomy that was granted to the rebel group.
Zaldy Ampatuan, the governor of the Muslims
autonomous region, is not a member of the MNLF. Giving the region to
a non-member is said to be a violation of the peace agreement
signed during the administration of President Fidel Ramos
administration. Many former guerrillas were disgruntled with the
peace deal. They now accuse the Arroyo government of failing to
comply with some of the provisions of the peace agreement, raise
their standards of living, and develop war-torn areas in Mindanao.
Under the 1996 peace accord, Manila would have
to provide a mini-Marshal Plan to spur economic development in
Muslim areas in southern Philipines and livelihood and housing
assistance to tens of thousands of former rebels to improve their
poor living standards.
In November 2001, on the eve of the elections in
the Muslim autonomous region, Misuari accused the government of
reneging on the peace agreement, and launched simultaneous
rebellions in Sulu and Zamboanga City.
Misuari then escaped by boat to Malaysia, where
he was arrested and deported to the Philippines. He is now under
house arrest in Manila. Misuari’s arrest in Malaysia, which also
previously supported the MNLF bid for a separate homeland in
Mindanao, was said to be in retaliation for his failure to secure
the release of dozens of foreigners and Malaysian citizens kidnapped
by the Abu Sayyaf group on two island resorts off Sabah in 2000 and
brought to Sulu. The Abu Sayyaf is a Muslim extremist group engaged
in kidnapping and banditry. It is listed as a foreign terrorist
organization by the US State Department.
But Misuari’s fall had severely affected the
MNLF. The group is heavily divided and rift among its leaders is
becoming more apparent. Other MNLF leaders said Misuari had failed
to bring development to the Muslim autonomous region when he was its
governor.
Misuari also ran twice for governor in Sulu even
while under detention but lost. He also supported President Gloria
Arroyo’s election bid and her allies in the Senate and Congress in
2004 in exchange for promises that he would be pardoned and freed.
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