Nur Misuari

Who is Nur Misuari?

Nur Misuari is a Moro revolutionary, politician, founder and leader of the Moro National Liberation Front. He completed his education through academic scholarships at the University of the Philippines and became a student activist under Jose Maria Sison's Kabataang Makabayan. Misuari was a lecturer at the University of the Philippines in political science and in the 1960s, he established the Mindanao Independence Movement which aimed to organize an independent state in southern Philippines. The Mindanao Independence Movement formed the Moro National Liberation Front that sought political reforms from the Government of the Philippines. Unable to gain reforms, the MNLF engaged in military conflict against the Philippine vernment and its supporters between 1972 to 1976 under the leadership of Misuari. The military resistance to the government of former Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos did not produce autonomy for the Moro people. He departed to Saudi Arabia in exile. He returned to the Philippines after Marcos was removed from office during the People Power Revolution in 1986.