Mission to visit Jolo island

Mission to visit Jolo island

MANILA (AFP): A fact-finding mission from the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) will visit the southern Philippine island of Jolo, where Moro rebels are holding five hostages, a diplomatic source said on Sunday.

The 22-member mission, led by Indonesian foreign minister Alwi Shihab, will also include representatives from Libya, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Senegal. Somalia and Brunei had backed out the last minute, the source said.

The mission will look into the progress of a 1996 OIC-brokered peace pact between Manila and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), formerly the Philippines' largest Muslim insurgent group.

MNLF founder Nur Misuari, now a governor of a Muslim autonomous region in the south, had in June complained to OIC foreign ministers that Manila had reneged on certain conditions of the agreement, including funding.