Aquino to Visit Rebel Leader
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ZAMBOANGA, Philippines — The presidential palace announced today that President Corazon Aquino will fly to southern Jolo island Friday to hold peace talks with the leader of a bloody Muslim separatist rebellion.
A spokesman said Aquino will go to the island, 600 miles south of Manila, to meet Moro National Liberation Front Chairman Nur Misuari at the end of a four-day congress of Muslim insurgents and followers. The MNLF has consistently demanded independence in the south for the Roman Catholic nation’s minority population of 3.5 million Muslims, whose separatist rebellion has claimed more than 60,000 lives since it exploded in 1972.
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