OIC envoys postpone trip to South

Ambassadors of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) in Manila have abandoned plans for a fact-finding mission in the southern Philippines this week due to serious security concerns.

Libyan Ambassador Salem Adam said the top diplomats of the OIC’s Committee of Eight, composed of Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Somalia and Brunei, decided to postpone their trip until such time that the situation in Mindanao improves.

Adam said they would wait for the Armed Forces’ go-signal before embarking on the fact-finding mission.

The OIC envoys were supposed to visit Sulu, Lanao and Cotabato in three groups from March 17 to 19 to gather information and data on the progress of the 1996 peace agreement between the government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

The fact-finding team will submit an assessment report to the foreign ministers of the OIC’s Committee of Eight who are scheduled to meet in Manila on May 14-15.

Diplomatic sources said the evaluation of the fact-finding mission would have a bearing on the Philippine government’s bid for an observer status in the OIC.

The foreigner ministers, in turn, will submit a report to the OIC Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers on May 26-27 in Tehran, Iran.

The Committee of Eight, headed by Indonesia, is tasked to monitor the progress of the 1996 peace agreement with the MNLF.