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ZAMBOANGA CITY — The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has called on the US government to take part in the southern peace negotiations and in the process rectify a historical flaw as a former colonizer.
“The United States has the moral responsibility to help solve this unfinished ‘Moro Question,’” the MILF said in a statement posted on its Web site www.luwaran.com.
It claimed that the US was responsible for “planting the seed of enmity” in Mindanao by turning over the Moros — despite their objections — to Filipino rule.
Had the US separated the Moro province from Luzon and the Visayas, there would have been no struggle for self-determination in Mindanao that resulted in much bloodshed and destruction for four decades.
The MILF said that the US, this time, must be fair.
“[It] must rectify the errors of past misdeeds. This can be done very simply, without supplanting the ongoing peace process or taking a direct hand in it… [and] finding ways and means to make the Manila government realize that the only way to solve the Moro Question is to address the legitimate aspirations of the Moros,” the MILF said.
The group also downplayed a statement issued by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) that criticized the meeting between MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim and President Benigno S. C. Aquino III in Japan earlier this month.
“It is in this light that the official statement coming from the Communist Party of the Philippines that it sees ‘US hand in Aquino talk with Murad’ not very engaging.
“We respect [the CPP’s] view but in this particular instance, it needs to understand the MILF perspectives,” the group said.
The MILF and government panels are set to meet for another round of formal talks on Aug. 22-24 in Kuala Lumpur. The Malaysian government is acting as third-party facilitator in the peace process.
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By: A. S. Mawallil
Source: Business World, Aug. 16, 2011
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