MANILA (AFP) updated version - An exile in Libya may be considered to end the impasse over Nur Misuari, the Philippines said today as Malaysia rejected the detained Filipino Muslim leader's request for political protection and vowed to deport him to Manila.

Aides to Filipino President Gloria Arroyo said that aside from returning Misuari to Manila, her government was also open to exiling him to Libya or to have him detained at a Filipino embassy in a third country.

Misuari, a former separatist guerrilla leader, fled to Malaysia four weeks ago after the Philippine army crushed an armed revolt by his followers.

But his uncertain status has caused friction between the two neighbours.

Kuala Lumpur, saddled with half a million Filipino refugees from Misuari's separatist rebellion in the 1970s and anxious not to be tainted with any connection to what could be seen as Islamic terrorism, wants to deport him by Dec 24.

It has further threatened to turn him loose to a third country unless Manila takes him under its custody.

Arroyo has asked for more time, partly because she does not want his followers to rally round him and add to problems in the southern Philippines, where Manila is facing two other Muslim separatist rebellions.

Misuari, 60, who faces rebellion charges in the Philippines, punishable by 20 years in jail, wants to seek asylum to an unspecified third country and has asked the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to help.

Libya an option

"As far as we are concerned, we don't recognise any request for political asylum or protection," a top official with the Malaysian foreign ministry told AFP.

Arroyo spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao acknowledged today that sending Misuari to Libya was an option.

"We haven't received any official communication from the Libyan government," he stressed. "When we receive such communications, then we can respond to that more properly."

Libya, which along with Malaysia had backed Misuari's war in the early 1970s, later provided refuge to the exiled Filipino rebel leader after Tripoli and the Islamic bloc brokered a 1976 ceasefire between his forces and the Philippine government.

He also stayed in Saudi Arabia for a time.

A popular revolt later toppled the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship, and Misuari returned to the Philippines to sign a peace agreement with Manila in 1996.

Another Arroyo aide, Roberto Gonzales, told reporters Manila would also consult with Indonesia and Malaysia over an alternative plan to have Misuari placed in the custody of a Filipino embassy in an Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) country.

OIC meeting

Indonesian Foreign Minister Nur Hassan Wirajuda and his Malaysian counterpart Syed Hamid Albar are to visit the Philippines tomorrow, Gonzales told reporters. Both countries are OIC members.

"If we don't bring him here, the arraignment (for the rebellion charges) can be done in absentia. Theoretically speaking, since our Philippine embassy is a Philippine territory, he can be tried there," Gonzales said.

But he stressed that "these are not yet definite. We have to look at this very carefully."

Tiglao said that since Tripoli has yet to make a formal offer "the most likely option would be to get Misuari back here to face charges".

Arroyo's National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said the handover could take place "within the first two weeks of January."

Hundreds of Misuari followers attacked military outposts in the island of Jolo and Zamboanga city last month to protest the holding of regional elections to choose Misuari's successor as governor of a Muslim self-rule area in the south.

"There are advantages if he is out of the country," said his elected successor Parouk Hussin.

"We can stabilise our position in the area. You cannot totally discount that he will generate sympathy among relatives and followers."