Kuala Lumpur – Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Conference composed of 57 Islamic nations, warmly applauded the success of the Philippines’ final peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front, which was reported to the body by Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda.

Minister Wirajuda, who chairs the OIC’s Committee of the Eight that deals with the Muslim problem of Southern Philippines, said the Philippine government has substantially complied with its undertakings under Phase I of
the GRP-MNLF final peace agreement of 1996.

The peace agreement has two phases: Phase I deals mainly with political and military issues while Phase II focuses on socio-economic packages for former MNLF members.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas F. Ople said the second phase of the agreement is largely underway with former MNLF combatants receiving livelihood assistance from the Philippine government in close cooperation with the United States Agency on International Development (USAID).

“The success of the GRP-MNLF final peace agreement is rightfully viewed here as a major diplomatic trophy of the OIC.  The settlement sets precedents that hopefully will inspire the last remaining separatist movement in Mindanao, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to follow in the path of peace,” Secretary Ople said.

The Wirajuda report is expected to indirectly boost the Philippine bid to be accepted as an observer in the OIC.  “I have been assured that our bid will be discussed along with that of other candidate countries in the next OIC ministerial conference to be held in Istanbul, Turkey in 2004,” Ople said.

There are three other countries besides the Philippines asking for observer status in the OIC, namely the Russian Federation, South Africa, and Ghana.

He noted that Pakistan, a full member of the OIC, is expected to block the entry of India, which has yet to submit its bid.  The OIC would have to decide on a technical problem about “overlapping representation” of the
Philippines and the MNLF, since the latter, represented by the incumbent MNLF chairman and ARMM Governor Parouk Hussin, is currently recognized as an observer in the OIC.

“Once this technical problem is sorted out, I see no other impediments to the Philippine bid for observer status in the OIC,” Secretary Ople said.  END