Misuari in Manila to sign peace pact
Misuari in Manila to sign peace pact
MANILA (AFP): Moslem leader Nur Misuari arrived here yesterday from Indonesia to sign a peace pact with the Philippine government ending a 24-year Islamic insurgency that has left 120,000 people dead in the country's south, officials said.
Misuari, chairman of the autonomy-seeking Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), was aboard an Indonesian Air Force Boeing 707 that landed at the Villamor Airbase in suburban Manila.
Some 500 Filipino Moslems waited in drizzling rain at the airbase to welcome Misuari, waving the red and yellow banner of the MNLF and placards saying "Welcome Nur Misuari."
In the airport lounge, he was met by a horde of journalists and Filipino Moslem supporters. The 55-year-old former university professor, wearing a business suit and a Moslem hat, looked back at the crowd, raised a clenched fist and shouted "Allah is great."
About 30 soldiers from the army's special forces and MNLF regulars threw a tight security cordon around him, and more troops guarded the perimeter of the airbase. MNLF and military sources had earlier expressed fears that Islamic extremists could harm Misuari to sabotage the talks.
Misuari did not make any statement and he and his entourage were immediately whisked to the Manila Hotel, witnesses said.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas was also aboard the plane, along with officials of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). They will witness the signing at 9:00 a.m. (0100 GMT) today at the presidential palace.
Indonesia chaired an OIC committee that supervised the three- year-long peace talks.
It was Misuari's first visit to the capital since his days as a professor at the University of the Philippines in the late 1960s.
Misuari has been entering and leaving the Philippines through the southern island of Mindanao -- the MNLF stronghold -- from his exile base in Saudi Arabia to visit his troops and attend the peace talks.
Today, Misuari will go for the first time to the Malacanang presidential palace -- the seat of power which he has fought since 1972 -- to sign the accord with retired armed forces chief Gen. Manuel Yan, head of Manila's negotiating panel.
President Fidel Ramos, a retired general and his former battlefield nemesis, will personally receive Misuari and witness the signing.
The former guerrilla leader will give speeches to university students at his alma mater and to an elite group of business people after the signing ceremonies today.
Misuari is the ruling party's candidate for governor in elections next week for a four-province Autonomous Region of Moslem Mindanao as part of the peace deal.
He or his choice will also head a council that will supervise economic development projects in 14 mainly Christian provinces in the south -- an area about twice the size of Taiwan. The council has been vehemently opposed by the Christian majority.