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Manila: The Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) has called for the reunification of the mainstream Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in the southern Philippines, following a rift brought about by the ouster of jailed MNLF chair Nur Misuari as the Front's chair, sources said.
The OIC was worried by the reactions of some MNLF leaders to the election of Muslimim Sema, the mayor of Cotabato city, in central Mindanao, as MNLF chair in Pagadian City last April 1, Hatimil Hassan, MNLF vice chair, told the Inquirer.
Discuss
"The OIC plans to send a mediation group to meet the pro- and anti-Misuari camps so we could discuss the change of leadership [that has started dividing us]," said Hassan, adding that Talal Dauz, OIC's director of Muslim Minority and Islam Committee has offered to help unify the MNLF.
The 49-member MNLF central committee had announced a vacancy in the MNLF chairmanship, which resulted in the election of Sema by more than 300 ground commanders and members, in Pagadian City last April 1, a source told Gulf News.
Questioned
Hassan confirmed that Sema was "properly elected". But Jain Zali, an MNLF commander, questioned it because Sema was part of the 15-man Council that had ousted Misuari as MNLF chair after the latter took up arms against government forces in Zamboanga and Sulu in 2001.
Misuari, then the governor of the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao, was against the holding of ARMM's local elections. At the time, President Gloria Arroyo had supported his rival, Farouk Hussain, as the ruling party's candidate to the ARMM polls.
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