RP, OIC set Jeddah tripartite meet with MNLF in July

DAVAO CITY – The government and the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) agreed Friday to finally hold the tripartite meeting with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) on the second week of July in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

According to the Office of the Presidential Assistant on the Peace Process, the schedule of the tripartite meeting was formally agreed upon in a joint communique signed by Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza and OIC Special Ambassador Sayed Al-Masry, who acts as adviser to the OIC secretary-general.

The Jeddah meeting is aimed at reviewing the status of the final peace agreement that the government signed with the MNLF on Sept. 2, 1996.

Al-Masry earlier said that the meeting at the OIC headquarters in Jeddah shall only be the first of a series, but succeeding meetings with regards to the review may be held in Manila.

Al Masry, who arrived in Manila last Wednesday, first met with Dureza and Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno Thursday morning at the Diamond Hotel wherein they discussed the procedural and administrative aspect of the Jeddah tripartite meeting.

Al-Masry then proceeded to meet with former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor Nur Misuari at a townhouse in New Manila, Quezon City, where he has been under house arrest for several months now.

Misuari faces rebellion charges after he allegedly led an armed uprising in 2001 in Jolo, Sulu, that claimed the lives of more than a hundred people.

Al-Masry cited the need for Misuari to be in the assessment meetings as he was also in all the negotiations that led to the signing of the final peace pact.

The government will reportedly ask the court to allow Misuari a temporary break for him to travel to Jeddah for the tripartite meeting.