(Update) OIC to MNLF, MILF: Get acts together for Bangsamoro people

MANILA, Philippines - The influential Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) told the Moro National Liberation Front and Moro Islamic Liberation Front to get their acts together in promoting the welfare of the Bangsamoro people. A statement posted on the MILF Web site Saturday said the OIC made the call in a resolution passed during its summit in Dhakar, Senegal last March 13 and 14. Unity was the 14th of the 16-item resolutions of this year's summit that dealt with the "Question of Muslims in Southern Philippines." The OIC Summit also took notes of the ongoing negotiations between the Philippine government and the MILF, which it "hopes ... to arrive at positive outcomes." The MILF sent a three-man delegation, composed of a member of the Front Central Committee, a provincial chairman from Southern Sulu, and a member of the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA). For its part, the MNLF's delegation included Assemblyman Hatimil Hassan, Mayor Isnaji Alvarez, former Muslim Affairs Executive Director Habib Mujahab, Romeo Sema, nephew of Cotabato City Mayor Moslimin Sema, representing the MNLF-Executive Committee; and Sharif Zain Jali. It also sent an "American lady, representing the MNLF-Misuari" group. Visibly absent was Sheikh Abdulbaki Abubakar, who is considered a mainstay of the MNLF delegation to the OIC. "However, the American lady, said to be close to Misuari's second wife, Rowaida Tan, was not identified in the report," the MILF said. This is the second summit conference of the OIC in Senegal that the MILF sent representatives. The first was on December 9-12, 1990. The MILF sent Mohagher Iqbal, chairman of its information committee, and Sheikh Abdulfatah Delna. In January this year, MILF chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim visited the headquarters of the OIC in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and briefed the OIC Secretary General of the progress of the GRP-MILF Peace Talks. He told the OIC officials that the MILF, in its talks with the government, does not intend to set aside what has been achieved by the MNLF and the Bangsamoro people, but to complement the GRP-MNLF Final Agreement in 1996. "We are willing to fuse the best of the FPA and what we sign with the government," he told the OIC officials. - GMANews.TV