COTABATO CITY, Maguindanao, Philippines --
Libyan Ambassador Salem Adem said it was likely
that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)
would settle for an autonomous government in
exchange for ending the country's decades-old
Moro rebellion.
Adem told reporters Sunday that during his
meetings with the MILF, its top leaders have
indicated that they would accept autonomy as a
political settlement.
Malacaņang has been dangling the package of
an expanded autonomy to get the MILF to sign a
peace treaty.
The resetting of the elections in the
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) was
deliberately done according to its proponents
because the government was optimistic that a
final peace deal could be signed next year,
which could pave the way for MILF participation
in the rescheduled elections.
Earlier reports said the MILF is already
opposing the package although the government has
yet to submit an official proposal.
"It's not true," Adem said of the report.
He said based on his meetings with
MILF chair Hadji Murad Ibrahim, the MILF is
now open to a settlement of the 34-year conflict
through limited self-rule.
Eid Kabalu, MILF spokesperson, said although
the MILF is open to a peaceful settlement of the
Bangsamoro rebellion, there was no discussion
between Murad and Adem about autonomy as an
option.
"I was there. What was discussed was the
deployment of the International Monitoring
Team," he said.
Kabalu said he believes Adem had been
misquoted.
Libya is a core member of the 56-state
Organization of the Islamic Conference and was
instrumental for the peace agreement between the
government and the Moro National Liberation
Front (MNLF) in 1996.
When asked about possible feud between the
MILF and the MNLF when both groups are
accommodated in the ARMM, Adem said: "That will
be up to the MNLF and the MILF to agree on as
brothers."
Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema, also the
MNLF secretary general, was cynical about a
government-MILF peace agreement in the near
future, "unless the MILF would ignore the
possibility of experiencing the same predicament
that we (in the MNLF) have gone through and are
still facing today."
"I don't think they would run that risk," he
said.
Sema said the government still owed the MNLF
the full implementation of phase two of the
Sept. 2, 1996 peace agreement.
He said the enactment by Congress of Republic
Act 9054 to expand and add more power to the
ARMM did not really empower the ARMM.
"Look, has ARMM ever had true elections?"
Sema asked.
Kabalu said a political settlement could come
after several key issues had been ironed out.