The meeting between MILF chief Murad Ebrahim and US Charge d’Affaires Leslie Bassett took place on Friday at Camp Darapanan in Maguindanao, the rebel group’s main training camp in Mindanao, an MILF statement said.
The MILF said the meeting was also attended by its vice chair Ghazali Jaafar, chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal and five other senior cadres, while the US side included Manila-based political officer Michael Pignagtello, Elzaida Washington, country director of the US Agency for International Development, and Anthony Senci, embassy defense minister.
Lt. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer, commander of military forces in Mindanao, told AFP he instructed an army division in the area to provide security to the American diplomats, who had requested a military escort ahead of their Philippine visit.
But he added: “We were not informed about the meeting.”
Lt. Col. Jonathan Ponce, spokesperson for the Philippine Army’s Sixth Infantry Division, told AFP: “We provided security, but we all know that they (soldiers) could not enter the MILF camp and join them (US diplomats).”
Murad thanks Obama
In a statement, Murad thanked the United States and President Barack Obama for “the unfaltering commitment to support the peace process and peaceful conflict resolution between the government and MILF.”
Jaafar told the US delegation that their government should help address the root cause of the decades-old Mindanao conflict.
“The US government knows very well the background of the conflict both historically and legally, and we believe that the US can greatly help toward the peaceful resolution of the conflict,” Jaafar said.
Washington is a key aid donor to impoverished Muslim areas in Mindanao.
In her message posted on the rebels’ website, Bassett said the US was committed to support the peace process by providing more assistance and more specific roles.
Last year, US Ambassador Kristie Kenney secretly met with Murad in Darapanan where she assured the rebel group of her country’s support for the peace talks.
Committed to peace
The MILF statement said Murad stressed the movement’s commitment to reaching a peace deal with the government of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo “through a negotiated political settlement.”
The peace talks were halted last year after the MILF attacked Christian communities across Mindanao, killing more than 300 people and displacing around 750,000.
In July, the MILF and the government signed a new ceasefire agreement.
Despite the ceasefire, evacuees fearing renewed fighting are still reluctant to return to their homes and remain in cramped evacuation centers.
EU, Spanish visitors
On Tuesday, two foreign dignitaries from the European Union and Spain are scheduled to visit various evacuation sites in North Cotabato and Maguindanao to look into the situation of the evacuees.
Security has been tightened all over North Cotabato ahead of the scheduled visit.
North Cotabato Gov. Jesus Sacdalan said he has ordered all police units to strengthen intelligence networking to thwart any threats against the two foreign visitors.
Sacdalan said the ambassadors with their respective delegations will meet with him in the provincial capitol on Oct. 20 before conducting ocular visits of various evacuation sites in North Cotabato and Maguindanao. Agence France-Presse with reports from Jeoffrey Maitem and Williamor A. Magbanua, Inquirer Mindanao
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