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.