A Gaddafi-less Misuari

Once known as one of the world’s most controversial and colorful authoritarian rulers, erstwhile President of Libya Muammar Gaddafi met his bloody end on Oct. 20 last year. Gaddafi led for more than 42 years one of Africa’s biggest oil producing countries.

When rebels toppled and killed Gaddafi, they brought an end to his leadership that was much hated also by the West for what they decried as a reign of terror in Libya. Recognized for his fashion sense of wearing bright colors, long, flowing robes and flashy sunglasses, Gaddafi’s hold on power began to disintegrate in February last year when the so-called Arab Spring-style protests erupted in the eastern city of Benghazi.

Gaddafi security forces met the protesters with violence, leading civilians to take up arms and form a rebel army. The rebels battled Gaddafi’s well-armed forces for months before finally taking Tripoli, their country’s capital city, with the help of air strikes from the United States and its allies from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It was in Sirte, Gaddafi’s hometown, where the flamboyant Libyan leader made his final stand, before the city fell to rebel forces that ended his strongman regime.

Libya took a major step toward democracy in July this year with the holding of its first free election for their country’s first-ever general national congress (GNC). Wire reports have it that Prime Minister-elect Ali Zeidan is still trying to form a broadly acceptable cabinet.

While most Libyans reportedly remain delighted that Gaddafi has gone and many voice cautious optimism about their country’s prospects, deadly chaos still dogs this North African nation. A year after they toppled Gaddafi, internal strife continues to haunt Libya where militias still call the shots, literally with their high-powered weapons. Gaddafi loyalists are accused of trying to destabilize their nation’s journey to democracy.

The present situation in Libya took a turn for the worse with the armed attack last month on the US consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi where US ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed. This incident highlighted the fragility of the Libyan state as it struggles to emerge from the legacy of Gaddafi’s tyrant rule.

With Gaddafi totally out of the picture, Nur Misuari — founding chieftain of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) — has lost his most ardent supporter among his Muslim brothers in the erstwhile Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

Gaddafi coddled and gave Misuari refuge for years as a young Muslim rebel from the Philippines who fled to Libya at the height of then President Ferdinand Marcos’ war against MNLF’s secessionists in Mindanao. With the blessings and full backing (and funding) by Gaddafi, Misuari was able to secure the 1976 Tripoli Agreement with the Marcos government. The Tripoli Agreement, among other things, called for the creation of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

While cooling his heels in Tripoli, Misuari was convinced to fly back to the Philippines after the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution. The late President Corazon Aquino, who took over from Marcos, sent presidential brother-in-law Agapito Aquino to fetch Misuari from Tripoli and came back to resume MNLF’s formal peace talks with the Philippine government.

It was under the auspices of the OIC that Misuari’s MNLF entered into a formal peace agreement in September 1996. The OIC-backed peace pact, as brokered by Indonesia, however, left out the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) headed by Hashim Salamat who broke away from Misuari’s MNLF.

Fast forward. After years of negotiations and three administrations later, the shoe is now on the other foot. Misuari felt left out in the October 15 Framework Agreement signed by the government with the MILF for the establishment of a new autonomous political entity called Bangsamoro. Misuari insists the MNLF holds a permanent observer status by the OIC as the sole representative of Muslims in the Philippines.

President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III witnessed the signing of the Framework Agreement along with Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia — which brokered the peace pact with the MILF — and OIC secretary-general Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu who flew all the way to Manila to support the new peace deal for Mindanao. Ihsanoglu had an hour-long private meeting with President Aquino afterwards at Malacañang.

Among other things, this Framework Agreement called for a basic law that a 15-man joint government-MILF panel will draft for Congress approval to establish a transitional Bangsamoro to replace the ARMM. And perhaps, the Bangsamoro entity will have expanded coverage of areas if ratified in a plebiscite.

Ihsanoglu proposed last week the holding of a tripartite meeting between the Philippine government, MNLF and the OIC to “find practical and implementable solutions for the remaining unresolved issues” in the Tripoli Agreement that Misuari claims were not fulfilled yet.

Misuari was unconvinced to work with the new government peace deal with the MILF. He rejected the unity talks offer by the OIC for both MNLF and the MILF to settle their differences. Instead, Misuari announced he plans to face the OIC leaders when they hold their regular meeting in Djibouti next month to present his formal complaints against the Philippine government’s non-compliance to its peace pact with the MNLF.

The 70-year old Misuari is obviously still counting on the OIC, now renamed as Organization of Islamic Cooperation, to give him the same support through these years. But without his brother Gaddafi backing him up, it would be difficult for the former MNLF chieftain to get fresh support.

As President Aquino described it, the ARMM — which Misuari headed for six years — has been a “failed experiment.” Misuari had been given a chance to make the peace deal in Mindanao work. But he bungled it. If he really desires peace for Mindanao, Misuari should give way to people who can try to make it succeed this time.

A Gaddafi-less Misuari no longer casts big, dark shadows on our own search for peace in southern Philippines.