PHILIPPINES: INDONESIA'S FM ALATAS RECEIVES AWARD

Описание: (10 Aug 1999) English/Nat

Indonesia's Foreign Minister has received one of the Philippines' most prestigious awards for his role in forging a peace pact between the Manila government and Muslim rebels.

Ali Alatas was presented with the Sikatuna Award after successfully brokering a peace accord in 1996 between Manila and the Moro National Liberation Front (M-N-L-F) - once Philippines largest Muslim separatist group.

The accord ended a quarter-century of separatist insurrection by the M-N-L-F which saw thousands killed in the southern region of Mindanao.

President Joseph Estrada presented the Sikatuna Award, Manila's highest award for diplomats, to Ali Alatas at the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila on Monday.

Alatas was chairman of a committee of Organisation of Islamic Conference member countries that brokered peace talks between Manila and the Moro National Liberation Front, once the country's largest Muslim separatist group.

The peace accord, signed in September 1996, ended 26 years of separatist insurrection by the M-N-L-F that killed over 120-thousand people in the southern region of Mindanao.

Some of the most crucial negotiations for the peace pact were held in Indonesia.

The treaty was a product of three years of peace negotiations between the Manila government and the M-N-L-F before the two sides finally initialed the pact in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta.

The peace pact saw the establishment of the Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development (S-P-C-P-D) which gave the M-N-L-F leadership the power to monitor economic development in 14 provinces in the southern region.

Alatas said he was honoured to receive the award.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I'm deeply touched indeed by the singular honour accorded to me with the conferment of the order of Sikatuna."
SUPER CAPTION: Ali Alatas, Indonesian Foreign Minister

Alatas is due to return to Jakarta on Tuesday, where he will join in the preparations for the August referendum that will determine the fate of the East Timorese people after 24 years of Indonesian rule.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We are not at all having an interest in having a free and fair ballot and then afterwards having to face again, a round of violence, so we are trying our very very best, together with all those who can make a difference in order to convince both sides that after the ballot, whatever the result may be, there should be peace and reconciliation between the two groups because the ballot can go both ways."
SUPER CAPTION: Ali Alatas, Indonesian Foreign Minister

Alatas said the problem in East Timor had been the split between the group that wants independence and those who support integration.

The plebiscite will allow, for the first time since Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese island in 1975, the East Timorese to choose between autonomy within Indonesia or full independence.

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