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By Angelo S. Samonte Reporter
The possible release of a former
Muslim rebel leader Nur Misuari is under study by the government but
not the subject of official talks between the concerned parties, a
Palace official said Wednesday.
“There is no formal discussion
or negotiation for the release of Chairman Misuari, but this matter
is being studied by the government and will be tackled in a right
forum,” Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said.
When asked about the possibility
of Misuari, chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF),
going out of jail this year, Ermita said it is a probability, but it
would depend on the result of the government’s assessment of his
case.
He added that the government is
considering releasing Misuari and sending him to exile to bring
peace to southern Mindanao. Ermita said this plan is nothing new,
since it had been adopted when the MNLF was still fighting the
government.
On Tuesday, The Manila Times
reported that government may release the former Muslim rebel leader
and send him to exile in Libya in exchange for his freedom.
Misuari, now in detention, is
facing rebellion charges for calling on his followers to overrun a
major military base in Sulu province in Mindanao in 2001. The attack
failed but caused the death of more than 100 persons.
Simultaneously, Misuari’s other followers held more than 100
civilians in nearby Zamboanga City.
It was unknown whether Tripoli
was aware or part of the plan to exile the MNLF chairman, 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.
Misuari was on self-exile in
Libya and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia until the late President
Ferdinand Marcos was ousted and the Corazon Aquino government was
installed in 1986.
Misuari signed a peace deal with
Manila in September 1996 ending decades of separatist war. After the
peace agreement was signed, he 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.
Under the 1996 peace accord,
Manila would have to provide a mini-Marshal Plan to spur economic
development in Muslim areas in southern Philippines 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.
He then escaped by boat to
Malaysia, where he was arrested and deported to the Philippines and
placed under house arrest until now.
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