Hassan Wirayuda to visit RP

Hassan Wirayuda to visit RP

MANILA: Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda is to
visit the Philippines later this month to boost cooperation
against terrorism and bilateral ties, a senior diplomat said on
Tuesday.

The two days visit on Dec.20, Wirayuda slated to meet his
counterpart Blas Ople and National Security Adviser Roilo Golez
before calling on President Gloria Arroyo, said the official, who
did not want to be named.

Expected to be taken up during the Ople-Hassan meeting is
Manila's proposal to host a multilateral conference on terrorism
and transnational crime. The date of the talks has not been
fixed.

Ople is also expected to take up with Hassan a bid by the
Philippines to gain observer status in the powerful Organization
of Islamic Conference (OIC).

Hassan is the chairman of the OIC's so-called "committee of
eight," which is monitoring the implementation of a 1996 peace
agreement between Manila and the Moro National Liberation Front
(MNLF) led by Muslim firebrand Nur Misuari.

Misuari was made a governor of the Muslim autonomous region,
but was eased out of power last year, provoking him to start a
rebellion, which more than 100 people were killed.

He fled to Malaysia where he was arrested and is now in jail
here on rebellion charges.--AFP