GRP, MNLF, OIC Tripartite Meet Set in Davao

The tripartite meeting between the government, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) will finally take place in Davao City within May.

MNLF chairman Nur Misuari informed Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in a letter dated May 5 that the Jeddah-based OIC had picked the city as the venue for the "high-level" meeting.

The tripartite meeting is aimed at ironing out problems in the implementation of the 1996 peace agreement between the government and MNLF.

The meeting should have been held last January 14 but the OIC failed to send a representative then.

During the meeting, the Joint Working Group (JWG) -- a body composed of government and MNLF representatives -- will present its report on the implementation of the peace agreement.
The JWG was created during the tripartite meeting in Jeddah in November 2007 to look into the MNLF's complaint that the government failed to implement many provisions of the agreement.

In his letter to Duterte, Misuari said the MNLF was expecting many participants to the meeting.
"They are coming in big number[s]," he wrote.

But Misuari pledged that MNLF members attending the meeting would not be armed.

Duterte has banned firearms from the city except for on duty soldiers and policemen.

It was not immediately known if the faction of the MNLF headed by Muslimin Sema would send delegates to the tripartite meeting in Davao.