COTABATO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 16, 2012) – The Organization of Islamic Cooperation has condemned the failed assassination of Cotabato City Vice Mayor Muslimen Sema who is also the chairman of a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front in the southern Philippines.
Sema survived an attack, but was wounded, by two gunmen who sprayed his car with automatic weapons on January 10 in Cotabato City while on his way home from the office.
The gunmen, who were employees of the Muslim autonomous regional government, had been shot and killed by Sema’s bodyguards.
The OIC described the attack as “wanton terrorist act.”
It said Sema is engaged in the ongoing Tripartite Talks between the Government of the Philippines, the Moro National Liberation Front and the OIC. “These talks seek the full implementation of the 1996 Peace Agreement for granting full autonomy to the Bangsamoro people in Mindanao,” it said.
Ambassador Sayed El-Masry, Adviser and Special Peace Envoy of the OIC Secretary General, sent a message wishing Sema a full and speedy recovery.
Sema, along with senior MNLF leaders that made up the so-called Council of 15, have unseated Nur Misuari as chairman of the former rebel group in a coup launched in 2001.
Sema’s group ousted Misuari, then governor of the four-province Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, for failing to improve the lives of Muslims in Mindanao and for lack of confidence.
Others in the group were Parouk Hussin, Yusop Jikiri, Hatimil Hassan, Abdul Sahrin, Alfatah Abubakar, Uttoh Salem and Manda Amilhamsa, and seven other state chairmen. But Misuari’s loyal followers dissolved the council that ousted him and installed Misuari as chairman of the MNLF.
Police are eyeing politics as the motive behind the attack. (Mindanao Examiner)
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