Libya offers help to the Philippines

Fri, 23 Apr 1999, 00:00 WIB | Source: DPA

MANILA (DPA): The Libyan government has offered to help spur
economic development in the strife-torn southern Philippines by
bringing in investment and assisting in the peace process with
rebels, President Joseph Estrada said on Thursday.

Estrada announced before leaving for a provincial trip that
the offer was made by Saif Al Islam Al Qaddafi, a son of Libyan
President Moammar Qaddafi, during a meeting at the Malacanang
presidential palace late Wednesday.

Aside from saying that the Libyan government was interested in
investing in the palm oil industry, Estrada did not give other
details of his talks with Qaddafi's son.

Qaddafi brokered in 1976 an agreement between then president
Ferdinand Marcos and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF),
which called for the establishment of an autonomous Muslim region
in Mindanao and help in on-and-off peace negotiations until the
MNLF agreed in 1996 to end its more than 20 years of insurgency.

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