MNLF chief renews independence demand: Lawyer
MNLF chief renews independence demand: Lawyer
Agencies, Manila
Philippine Muslim chief Nur Misuari has renewed his demand for independence for the country's five million Muslim minority and will seek the help of the United Nations to achieve his goal, his lawyer said on Thursday.
The demand means that Misuari -- currently detained on illegal entry charges in neighboring Malaysia -- has effectively abandoned the peace agreement he signed with the Philippine government in 1996.
"He told me he wants no less than independence, no less than the decolonization of the Bangsa Moro (Muslim) homeland," Elly Pamatong said in an interview on Manila's ANC television network.
"He instructed me to file a petition for ... independence with the decolonization unit of the political department of the United Nations. The position is he wants to pursue his original demand for independence," the New York-based lawyer said.
Manila filed charges of rebellion against the renegade chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) last month after hundreds of his followers attacked military posts on southern Jolo island in a failed uprising.
Misuari led a 24-year MNLF revolt for an Islamic state in the south of the mainly Catholic Philippines until 1996 when he signed the peace accord and assumed office as governor of an Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
The region, comprising five largely Muslim provinces and one city, enjoys limited autonomy.
Misuari boycotted the Nov. 26 elections called by Manila to choose new ARMM leaders and about 500 MNLF guerrillas loyal to him rose in revolt.
He was later arrested in the neighboring east Malaysian state of Sabah and remains in detention while Kuala Lumpur and Manila ponder his fate.
Pamatong said last week he had filed a petition with the offices of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the United States and in Geneva seeking political asylum for Misuari.
Misuari's guerrilla army was estimated to number 30,000 at the height of the MNLF rebellion in the 1970s but dwindled after power struggles split the Front into factions. About 7,000 MNLF fighters were integrated into the army and police following the 1996 accord while several thousand others stayed in their villages, holding on to their guns, under Manila's live-and-let- live policy.
Military officials estimate less than 1,000 rebels took part in the Jolo uprising and in fighting later outside Zamboanga city, and say they do not believe Misuari could count on much more than that number to join him in his renewed struggle.
The rival Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is holding peace talks with the government, is estimated to have about 15,000 fighters.
The smaller but more radical Abu Sayyaf had about 1,200 men at the start of the year but the military says its ranks have dwindled to less than 1,000 following battlefield losses.
Manila's ambassador to Kuala Lumpur said on Thursday the Philippines is not ready to take Misuari back from Malaysia.
Ambassador Jose Brillantes told AFP his government had indicated that it wanted the rebel leader to remain in Malaysia for the moment.
A report in Malaysia's Sun newspaper on Thursday quoted a highly-placed source as saying Misuari would be deported by the end of the week.
Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi said late on Wednesday Misuari's presence was an unwanted burden for the country, and Malaysia would deport him as soon as Manila was ready.