MANILA, Philippines — When it comes to peace negotiations, difficulties and disappointments are givens, but patience and resilience beget the prize all stakeholders long for: a peaceful prosperous life for ordinary people and their families.
This was the message that Robert Hannigan, described as a Security Adviser of the British Prime Minister and Head of Security, Intelligence and Resilience of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, told foreign affairs reporters after getting out of a marathon meeting with Philippine government officials at a hotel in Makati City.
The Philippine News Agency said Hannigan was accompanied by British Ambassador to Manila Peter Beckingham.
”I think the greatest message that we can give is that there can be a solution; it’s difficult, it takes time and there are great disappointments along the way but the prize is worth going for,” said Hannigan, who arrived on Monday on a two-day mission.
The South is where the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has been waging war against government troops, claiming the island to be its ancestral domain. In the process, their battleground is bloodied with the lives of innocent, mostly Christian civilians — no less than 300 at least since they renewed their attacks in August after a failed attempt to gain control of a so-called Bangsamoro homeland.
Hannigan met Monday morning with Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales and Presidential Assistant on the Peace Process (PAPP) Hermogenes Esperon Jr. before heading to Mindanao.
”I did not come here to offer solutions or come here to negotiate, but hope to share some of the lessons learned” from his experience in the peace process on the issue of Northern Ireland,” he told reporters as he rushed out of the closed-door meeting.
”I’ve come to share some of the experiences in the northern Ireland peace process which concluded in the last couple of years and went on for some 30, 40 years. I don’t come here for solutions or come here to negotiate but hope to share some of the lessons we’ve learned and I had a very useful meeting this morning with the members of the government.”
Hannigan also told reporters that with the troika of Philippine officials, “we talked about some of the principles on the peace process, the importance of keeping the goal and the prize at the end of this which is a peaceful prosperous life for ordinary people and their families.”
”I don’t want to get involved in the details of the peace process here (the Southern Philippine issue), what I’ve learned is not to interfere in a situation that may be very different.”
In previous interviews with Beckingham, foreign affairs reporters were repeatedly told that the British government is “fully aware” that the Northern Ireland issue may be far different from that of Mindanao.
”Of course, there are many differences between the peace discussions in Northern Ireland and Mindanao, but if the parties in Mindanao can gain insight from Robert Hannigan's work, then his visit will be valuable," Beckingham also said in a separate statement.
Northern Ireland was a decades-old conflict between the dominant Protestants against the minority Catholics. Philippine authorities, on the other hand, decline to publicly look at the conflict in Christian-dominated Mindanao — which is claimed by Muslims as their ancestral land by reasons of history and earlier occupation — as a religious issue. But, at the same time, the government has been promoting interfaith dialogues and pursued the paradigm all the way to the United Nations.
Hannigan is due to meet later today with representatives of the MILF hierarchy in Davao City.
On Wednesday morning, Hannigan is due to meet with stakeholders on the Mindanao peace process. He would not name them, but aside from local officials and non-governmental organizations, the group would include British aid support workers based in Davao. UK volunteers in Iligan City fled the area when the clashes broke out in August.
”I’m looking forward to meeting people, the MILF tonight and the stakeholders tomorrow to learn more about the situation on the ground in Mindanao and I’ve come to listen and to share our experiences and not tell people what the solution is,” he said.
Britain offered to share its “intimate experience of negotiating peace in Northern Ireland” during an exploratory meeting in Great Britain between President Gloria Arroyo and then Prime Minister Tony Blair in December 2007.
Since August, Arroyo has promoted the resolution of the stalemated peace talks with the MILF through a United Nations-accepted process known as DDR (disarming or decommissioning, demobilization and reintegration or rehabilitation).
Esperon had earlier said that "Dr. Hannigan's visit is very timely as the Philippine Government is shifting to a new paradigm in engaging various armed groups."
"Hannigan's visit follows discussions between UK Foreign Office Minister Meg Munn and (Philippine Foreign) Secretaries Romulo and (then PAPP Jesus) Dureza in Manila in May, when they agreed it would be useful for a senior official involved in the Northern Ireland peace process to visit the Philippines.” (Gloria Jane Baylon)
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