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Manila: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son will arrive in the Philippines on Tuesday for talks with leaders of two major Moro groups, a report has said.
The report published by Luwaran, quoted a source from the Libyan Embassy in Manila as saying that Saiful Islam Al Gaddafi is due in southern Philippines‚ Mindanao for talks with leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).
The government said Saiful Gaddafi will be accorded honours due to a visiting dignitary and will be met at the airport by National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales.
Reports said Saiful Gaddafi's presence in the country is in line with the Libyan government's support to the peace process in Mindanao.
Presently, Libya is part of an international team led by Malaysia which is monitoring the ceasefire between the government and the MILF.
Delegation
The other countries on the team are Brunei, Japan and Canada.
According to Luwaran, the MILF has formed a five-man delegation comprising representatives from Lanao, Basilan, Sulu, Maguindanao and Cotabato City, to meet the young Gaddafi in Manila.
Khalid Musa, deputy chairman of the MILF Committee on Information, was quoted by Luwaran as saying that no one in the MILF disfavours unity, "because this is what Islam obliges every Muslim to do".
But the main thing, he said, "is not the principle but how to bring about that unity that is genuine and lasting".
He explained that the MILF and the MNLF can sign a unity declaration but this can be "hollow and superficial".
Declaration
"A unity declaration is not attractive to the MILF," he said. The MILF had come about during the late 1990s as a result of an internal squabble among high-ranking officials of the MNLF. Disgruntled functionaries of the MNLF, led by the group's erstwhile vice-chair the late Hashim Salamat, spun off from the organisation and formed the MILF. Saiful Gaddafi is president of the Gaddafi International Foundation for Charitable Associations (GIFCA), an organisation led by the family of the Libyan strongman.
The young Gaddafi came to Sultan Kudarat town in Sharif Kabunsuan in 1999 during one of the earlier talks of the MILF and the government to relay his father's commitment to the peaceful resolution of the conflict in Mindanao. In the Philippines, the GIFCA has been engaged in welfare activities.
Charity: Welfare programmes
The Gaddafi International Foundation for Charitable Association (GIFCA) has been engaged in implementing various socio-economic programmes in Muslim communities in Mindanao for nearly a decade.
The GIFCA is an organisation founded by members of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's family.
Libya has been a key supporter of attempts for achieving peace in southern Philippines. During the 1970s, the oil-rich North African country played a key role in the forging the 1976 Tripoli Agreement between the government and the MNLF.
- Gilbert Felongco, Correspondent
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