Moro autonomy still contentious issue

Moro autonomy still contentious issue

JAKARTA (JP): Delegates from the Moro National Liberation
Front (MNLF) and the Philippine government met here yesterday to
begin talks on the crucial issue of the mechanisms for yielding
autonomy to the predominantly Moslem part of southern
Philippines.

Despite already resolving what delegates estimate as 80 to 90
percent of the issues, MNLF chairman Nur Misuari and Manila's
chief negotiator Manuel T. Yan, still seem at odds on the
question of a possible referendum to implement the accords
achieved up to the present.

Manila argues that, based on its Constitution, a referendum
must be held in the southern Philippines before the agreements
yielding autonomy to the MNLF can be applied.

Misuari yesterday dismissed the proposal as an irrelevant
issue which might derail the overall peace process.

"You cannot apply your laws and constitution because it has no
power or authority to govern the fate of the Tripoli agreement,"
he told The Jakarta Post in reference to the 1976 accord reached
in Libya, which is the foundation of the talks.

"But they are insisting and I don't know how we can go about
this, but of course we stand ready to talk to them," he added.

Misuari and Yan are here for the Third Round of Formal Peace
Talks which are being held at the Sari Pan Pacific Hotel until
Friday.

Indonesia has been facilitating the talks for the past two
years. During the Second Round of Talks here last year, the two
sides agreed on issues concerning educational and judicial
autonomy.

Some five-million Filipino Moslems, mostly on the island of
Mindanao, have been fighting for self-rule for several centuries
in a predominantly Roman Catholic nation.

Misuari warned that failure of the talks could have dire
consequences.

"They have waited too long and compromised too much to be able
to wait any longer," he said of the Moro people's desire for
autonomy.

Deadlock in the peace process could result in a loss of
confidence among the Moro people in the peaceful methods adopted
by the MNLF and sway them towards more radical groups such as the
breakaway Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

"If we fail, we will be sowing the seeds of a larger and more
vicious war," Misuari said on the consequences of failure.

Nevertheless when asked whether the MNLF would again resort to
armed resistance, Misuari seemed to indicate some restraint.

"We will remain in a position of what we call a defense
position...only if they intrude into our camps will we exercise
our right to defend ourselves," he remarked.

Yan nevertheless still expressed confidence and hope at the
new talks.

Pointing to the recent peace breakthroughs in Bosnia-
Herzegovina and the Middle East, Yan noted that the momentum of
peace can no longer be resisted.

"Now perhaps it is the turn of Southeast Asia to shine in this
quest. Mindanao is not only the front door to Philippine
progress, it is the front door to regional peace and stability,"
he said.

Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas during
yesterday's opening session also noted that despite the many
accomplishments so far, the issues that remain unresolved "are
the most contentious and the ones that bear the greatest weight."

He explained that these include the question of the
establishment of the provisional autonomous government and the
Special Regional Security Force which would incorporate MNLF
forces into the Philippine army.

"The question is whether both sides are willing to give more
of what they have already so wisely given to secure the peace
that they have been pursuing for so long," Alatas said.(mds)

Editorial -- Page 4