MANILA - At 71, Usman Kamlon was arguably
too old to be on the front lines of a sometimes
violent anti-war protest rally. But he was
undaunted, despite the sight of truncheon-wielding
anti-riot policemen nearby.
"I just want
to sympathize with [Muammar] Gaddafi," he said in
halting English on the sidelines of a rally led by
Filipino-Muslim activists last week in the
Philippine national capital. "No to NATO bombings
in Libya ... We love Khadaffy," his placard read
in reference to the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization missions in Libya.
Like other
assembled protesters, Kamlon's stance echoed his
fellow Muslims' heartfelt sentiment for the Libyan
despot who over
the years brought war - and
peace - to the resource-rich but impoverished
southern Philippine island of Mindanao.
Under siege by NATO warplanes and an armed
uprising by Libyan rebels, Gaddafi faces an
uncertain fate. That has raised doubts here about
Libya's future role in Mindanao, where Gaddafi
once supplied guns, money and training to Muslim
secessionists in their bid to establish a separate
Moro state.
Moro rebel groups in Mindanao
have expressed outrage over what they perceive as
the unlawful attempts of Western powers, including
the United States, to oust Gaddafi from power by
using force.
The rebel Moro National
Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF) - both recipients of
Gaddafi's largesse over the years - strongly
condemned the United Nations (UN)-sanctioned
attacks on Libya.
"Instead of air strikes
and Tomahawk missiles, the UN should send
international observers or peacekeepers to Libya,"
says MNLF central committee chair Muslimin Sema.
The MILF has made similar appeals to the
UN to broker a peace deal between Gaddafi and the
Libyan insurgents, similar to what Tripoli has
done for strife-torn Mindanao in the Philippines.
"The interests of the Libyans should take
precedence over those whose interests are geared
towards protecting their sway and control of the
vast oil reserves of Libya," says MILF secretariat
chair Muhammad Ameen.
In the same
statement, which in places tends to favor the
Libyan revolt, Ameen said the "legitimate
aspirations of the Libyan people to preserve their
unity and setting up reliable and freely chosen
democratic institutions should be above personal,
family or tribal considerations".
Both the
MNLF and MILF fired salvos at the 58-member
Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), the Arab
League and the African Union for their lack of
efforts to help mediate the political upheaval in
the oil-rich North African country.
No
doubt what bothers both Moro rebel groups more is
that any scenario in which Gaddafi is toppled
would likely doom their vision of eventually
establishing an independent Moro republic carved
out of the islands of Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan
in the south.
Under Gaddafi, Libya's role
in Mindanao morphed over the years from that of
warmonger to peacemaker.
From 1968 to
1972, Gaddafi funneled arms and money to the
secessionists. The Libyan strongman later became a
peacemaker following the forging of the
Manila-MILF peace agreement he helped broker in
Tripoli in 1976 - thanks to the shuttle diplomacy
of then First Lady Imelda Marcos.
That
deal, which Gaddafi hailed as a "milestone in the
promotion of universal peace and understanding",
led to the creation of an autonomous regional
government for Muslim Mindanao with MNLF chairman
Nur Misuari as its first governor.
It was
also through the Libyan leader's initiative that
the powerful OIC extended observer status to the
MNLF, a feat that ruffled Manila's diplomatic
feathers and drew the envy of the MILF.
For the past years, Seiful Islam
al-Gadaffi - Gaddafi's eldest son - has tried to
merge the mainstream MNLF and the MILF to forge a
common front before the world Islamic community
and to gain leverage in their bid for an
independent Muslim state in Mindanao. Those
mediating efforts, however, ran into entrenched
differences in outlook between the two groups.
While the MNLF seemed inclined to accept autonomy
before independence, the MILF remained
intransigent in its stand for an outright separate
and independent Moro republic.
With
Gaddafi and his sons now unable to exert influence
and control on the warring MNLF and MILF, their
rift has gone from bad to worse. They have
recently exchanged barbs, each accusing the other
of betrayal of the Moro goals and aspirations for
a separate homeland.
Misuari has opposed
the on-off peace talks between Manila and the
MILF, although the process has Gaddafi's blessings
as part of his decades-old drive to settle the
long-drawn Mindanao conflict.
Libya forms
part of the Malaysian-led international monitoring
team now overseeing the Manila-MILF ceasefire pact
in Mindanao. Other countries represented in the
team are Japan, Norway, Brunei and the European
Union.
To Misuari, the MILF has lost its
legitimacy to represent the Moros as many of its
field commanders and fighters had shifted their
allegiance to the MNLF. He says the MILF has been
reduced to a ragtag band after some of its
commanders formed a separate group called the
BangsaMoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
In
response, the MILF denied Misuari's claim and
accused him of making attempts to "pirate" its
followers and to project an image that the MNLF is
a force to be reckoned with.
Despite
prodding from Washington and other Western allies,
Manila has refused to publicly say it backed the
UN resolution imposing the no-fly zone over Libya
and other punitive measures against Gaddafi and
his regime.
Libya hosts some 25,000
overseas Filipino workers whose welfare and
security Manila can't compromise in the face of a
political upheaval. Through the Gaddafi
Foundation, the Libyan leader has poured in
millions of his oil wealth to finance the
construction of school buildings, roads and other
vital projects in Mindanao's depressed areas,
regardless of whether these benefited Muslims or
Christians.
Before she bowed out in June
last year after completing her six-year term,
then-president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo succeeded
in convincing Gaddafi to invest in the development
of the sprawling Liguasan Marsh in Maguindanao
province, an MILF stronghold. The area is believed
to contain natural gas deposits.
When the
notorious Abu Sayyaf rebel group resorted to
kidnappings, Libyan emissaries figured prominently
in negotiating for the release of hostages, some
of them foreigners, and the payment of ransom
demands. They included US missionaries Martin and
Gracia Burnham in 2001.
Al
Labita is a Manila-based journalist.
(Copyright 2011 Asia Times Online
(Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
contact us about sales, syndication and
republishing.)
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road,
Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
