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Founding Philosophy:

The Moro National Liberation Front's primary goal was the creation of an autonomous Muslim state in the southern Philippines. The contested area was the two islands of Mindanao and Sulu Archipelago, which comprises approximately 13 Philippine provinces. While the Philippines has a history of conflict between Christian and Muslim elements, the immediate backdrop to this terrorist rebellion formed in the 1950s. The Philippine government encouraged Christian citizens to move to the island of Mindanao, one of the Philippines more abundant areas in terms of natural resources. By the late 1960s, Christians had become the majority in Mindanao. Tensions between the newly-arrived Christians and the comparatively poorer Muslim inhabitants emerged.

Responding to these developments, Nur Misuari formed a Muslim advocacy group in the late 1960s called the Mindanao Independence Movement. In 1972, Misuari recreated his advocacy group as an armed terrorist rebel organization and changed its name to the Moro National Liberation Front. The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) emerged as a powerful terrorist group. The group's membership numbered into the tens of thousands. In the early to mid 1970s, the Moro National Liberation Front took control of large areas of Mindanao and Sulu. Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos responded with military force, committing 80 percent of the country's military troops to the southern area.

In 1976, the Moro National Liberation Front agreed to a 16-point accord with the Philippine government. Concurrent with this accord, there was a referendum on autonomy for the southern islands in 1977. By this time, the islands had a Christian majority and the goal of an autonomous Muslim state predictably failed to gain a majority vote. The Moro National Liberation Front was shaken by the accord's failed results. The MNLF's membership suffered and splinter rebel groups began to break away from the group.



Current Goals:

In 1986 the MNLF and the Philippine government signed a truce. Then in 1996, Philippine president Fidel Ramos agreed to a peace accord with MNLF leader Nur Misuari. The agreement created a four-province Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao and Nur Misuari joined the political leadership of the new autonomous region. Those Muslim nationalists who were not appeased by this agreement defected to other terrorist organizations, namely the Abu Sayyaf Group and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Some terrorists continued to claim attacks in the name of the "Moro National Liberation Front" even after the peace accord was signed in 1996. Five years after he signed the peace accord, Nur Misuari returned to his terrorist roots with his November 2001 attack on an army base that led to 100 deaths.

Financial Sources:

Libya's Muammar Qaddafi; Tun Mustapha, Chief Minister of the Malaysian state of Sabah; Islamic Republic of Iran





Reference:
http://www.start.umd.edu/start/data_collections/tops/terrorist_organization_profile.asp?id=202

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