SULU – A Philippine court has lifted the arrest warrants of a fugitive leader of the former rebel group Moro National Liberation Front blamed for the deadly attacks on Zamboanga City in 2013.
Judge Maria Rowena San Pedro signed the order lifting the warrants against Nur Misuari.
She said the suspension of proceedings and the enforcement of the warrants of arrest against Misuari shall be for a period of 6 months from the date of her resolution, unless sooner lifted by the court. The order was signed October 27.
Armed with the court order, Presidential peace adviser Jesus Dureza flew by jet to Jolo town in Sulu province of Thursday and fetched Misuari on instructions from President Rodrigo Duterte.
Duterte wanted to include Misuari in the government peace process with another rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front which signed an interim peace deal with Manila in 2014. The President also wanted to discuss with Misuari the issues of Abu Sayyaf, the Bangsamoro Basic Law, the government’s 1996 peace accord with the MNLF and federalism which Duterte is strongly pursuing.
Misuari is wanted by authorities after his forces attacked Zamboanga City – first in 2001 and the second was in 2013 – that left over 300 people dead and wounded in three weeks of street battles. Many MNLF members who were residing in Zamboanga had joined the fighting that displaced over 120,000 people.
He signed a peace deal in September 1996 ending decades of bloody war. After the peace agreement was signed, Misuari became the governor of the Muslim autonomous region. But despite the peace accord, there was a widespread disillusionment with the weak autonomy they were granted.
Under the peace agreement, Manila would have to provide a mini-Marshal Plan to spur economic development in Muslim areas in the south and livelihood and housing assistance to tens of thousands of former rebels to uplift their poor living standards.
In 2001, Misuari’s loyal forces and former MNLF rebels who joined the Philippine Army following the peace deal attacked a key military base in Jolo town and civilian targets in Zamboanga City in an effort to stop the government from calling an election in the Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao where Misuari was then the governor.
Misuari then escaped by boat to Malaysia, where he had been arrested and deported to the Philippines and was eventually pardoned and released by President Gloria Arroyo in exchange for MNLF support to her election bid as well as her allies in the Senate and Congress in 2004. He also ran thrice for governor in Sulu even while under detention, but lost miserably. (Mindanao Examiner)
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