Alatas receives Philippine award

Alatas receives Philippine award

MANILA (AP): Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas (see picture on left) received one of the Philippines' most prestigious awards on Monday for his role in the forging of a peace pact between the Manila government and Muslim rebels.

President Joseph Estrada presented the Sikatuna Award, Manila's highest award for diplomats, to Alatas at the Malacanang presidential palace.

"I am greatly honored," Alatas said after the ceremony, describing the award as an honor for all people who have worked for peace, independence and friendship.

Alatas was chairman of a committee of Organization of Islamic Conference member countries that brokered peace talks between Manila and the Moro National Liberation Front, once the country's largest Muslim separatist group.

The peace accord, signed in Sept. 1996, ended a quarter- century of separatist insurrection by the MNLF that killed more than 120,000 people in the southern region of Mindanao.

Some of the most crucial negotiations for the peace pact were held in Indonesia.

Alatas is to return on Tuesday to Jakarta, where he will join in the preparations for a direct ballot in East Timor to be held later this month. The vote will give East Timorese the choice between staying part of Indonesia as an autonomous region or full independence.