MILF Signs Truce With Maguindanao Militias

A Muslim refugee returns Tuesday 11 July 2006 to his home in Shariff Aguak town in Maguindanao province only to find their thatched house burned. More than 30,000 people fled from a weeklong fighting between Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels and provincial militias that left dozens of people dead on both sides. (Mark Navales)

MAGUINDANAO (Mark Navales / 11 Jul) Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels and government-backed militias agreed to a formal truce on Tuesday, ending more than a week of fierce clashes that sent more than 30,000 people fleeing in Maguindanao province in the southern Philippines.

"We have signed a formal truce agreement with the militias and both sides agreed to halt the fighting and draw a demilitarized zone in Shariff Aguak (town) in Maguindanao," Eid Kabalu, a spokesman for the MILF, told the Zamboanga Journal.

Kabalu said representatives from the Philippine military, Department of National Defense, the Malaysian-led international truce observers and Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan signed the cease-fire accord.

"This is a good development and those who fled their homes can now return to their villages," he said.

The MILF blamed militias loyal to Ampatuan for the violence, which they claim was in retaliation for a roadside bombing last month that killed five people. The target of the bombing was allegedly the governor, who escaped unhurt.

Police and military accused the MILF of masterminding the attack and ordered the arrest of two senior rebel leaders Jamil Ombra, commander of the 105th Base Command in Camp Omar and his deputy Sajid Pakiladato.

Both were tagged as behind the bombing in Shariff Aguak. The MILF denied the accusations and refused to surrender the duo.

In February, security and rebel forces clashed for weeks in Shariff Aguak and left more than a dozen people dead from both sides. The fighting erupted after the MILF opposed a provincial government road construction that rebels claimed would encroach into their territories in the village of Datu Unsay.

President Arroyo opened peace talks in 2001 with the MILF in an effort to put an end to more than three decades of bloody fighting in the strife-torn, but mineral-rich Mindanao. (With a report from Juan Magtanggol)