MILF welcomes Hillary's support of peace talks
11/14/2009 | 05:46 PM
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) welcomed Saturday the expression of support by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for its peace talks with the government.
MILF Secretariat Chairman Muhammad Ameen said Clinton's endorsement for the peace efforts is an "ace" in their 11-year-old peace efforts with the government.
“We welcome the expression of support of the United States to the GRP-MILF Peace Talks. Coming from the world’s only superpower, it is an ace in the peace process," Ameen said in an article on the MILF website.
Ameen said that the US, if it so wills, can rectify the “historic injustices" committed against the Moro people.
The Moro people historically refused to acknowledge the establishment of the Philippine state in the early 16th century and have continued to maintain their independence from the Philippines as a separate state to this day. However, Ameen said that the US never listened to the pleas of Moros for a separate country.
Ameen said that the Moros sent at least three petitions to the US Congress, calling for the separation of their homeland or retention as an American colony.
These petitions included one from the Sulu Moros on June 21, 1921; a petition from the Moro leaders of Cotabato, Lanao, Zamboanga, and Sulu on February 1, 1924; and a Dansalan Declaration signed by 108 leaders and imams of the Lanao region on March 18, 1935.
Nevertheless, Ameen lauded Clinton's statement that the government and the MILF should not waste the opportunity to strike a peace deal before President Arroyo steps down in June 2010.
Peace efforts between the government and the MILF began in 1997. However, the talks were disrupted last year because of attacks by rogue MILF troops in Mindanao, as well as the thumbing down of a Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain. - GMANews.TV
MILF Secretariat Chairman Muhammad Ameen said Clinton's endorsement for the peace efforts is an "ace" in their 11-year-old peace efforts with the government.
“We welcome the expression of support of the United States to the GRP-MILF Peace Talks. Coming from the world’s only superpower, it is an ace in the peace process," Ameen said in an article on the MILF website.
Ameen said that the US, if it so wills, can rectify the “historic injustices" committed against the Moro people.
The Moro people historically refused to acknowledge the establishment of the Philippine state in the early 16th century and have continued to maintain their independence from the Philippines as a separate state to this day. However, Ameen said that the US never listened to the pleas of Moros for a separate country.
Ameen said that the Moros sent at least three petitions to the US Congress, calling for the separation of their homeland or retention as an American colony.
These petitions included one from the Sulu Moros on June 21, 1921; a petition from the Moro leaders of Cotabato, Lanao, Zamboanga, and Sulu on February 1, 1924; and a Dansalan Declaration signed by 108 leaders and imams of the Lanao region on March 18, 1935.
Nevertheless, Ameen lauded Clinton's statement that the government and the MILF should not waste the opportunity to strike a peace deal before President Arroyo steps down in June 2010.
Peace efforts between the government and the MILF began in 1997. However, the talks were disrupted last year because of attacks by rogue MILF troops in Mindanao, as well as the thumbing down of a Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain. - GMANews.TV
