MANILA (Juan Magtanggol / 02 Oct) – The Philippine government on Monday expressed optimism that it would be able to find a way to break the deadlock in the peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group.
The Philippines’ largest Muslim rebel group, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, previosly warned that Manila should be blamed if the peace talks fail after both sides ended peace negotiations in Malaysia last month without any agreement.
Manila began peace negotiations with the MILF in 2001, but no major accord has been signed by both sides, except for a cease-fire agreement. And many rebels are slowly losing their patience on the five-year old peace talks.
President Gloria Arroyo’s peace adviser Secy. Jesus Dureza said in Spain that new perspectives are being studied and crafted as a way forward in the ongoing impasse on ancestral domain with the Muslim rebels in Southern Philippines.
“There is always a way forward. Just like in the many more problematic situations in the world, a peaceful settlement can be achieved provided both sides are determined to mutually seek peace,” said Dureza, who is meeting other international peace negotiators in Madrid.
“I know the Moro Islamic Liberation Front wants peace for the Bangsamoro people in the South. We in the government, and the rest of the people who are tired of conflict, also aspire for peace. Looking for the way is what this is all about. It may not be easy, but President Arroyo and the whole nation are determined to seek the path to peace,” he said.
Spain invited over a dozen government negotiators for a 3-day forum in Madrid.
Aside from Dureza, the Philippines is represented by government panel negotiator Anabelle Abaya, a conflict resolution expert who sits in the negotiations with the communist party. Peace talks with the Filipino Maoist rebels are also on standstill at the moment. The University of Culture of Peace in Barcelona facilitated the closed door marathon sessions.
Discussed during the forum aside from the Philippine peace process were situations in Columbia, Darfur, Congo, Burundi, Azerbaijan, Aceh Indonesia, Sahara, Pakistan and others.
Murad Ebrahim, the MILF chieftain, said the talks are now passing “a turbulent area” and that the Filipino government must take responsibility for the breakdown of the negotiations.
This signals that we are now on the danger zone of the peace talks,” Ebrahim said, referring to the failure of the negotiations on Sept. 9 held in Malaysia, which is brokering the peace talks.
The MILF has rejected Manila's offer for a limited autonomy in the mineral-rich, but restive Mindanao island, home to about 4 million Muslims who want a separate Islamic state.
Mohager Iqbal, the head of the MILF peace panel, said the Philippine government offered them the 5-province Muslim autonomous region and 613 other Muslim villages in exchange for a peace deal.
"They offered the MILF the whole of the Muslim autonomous region and 613 other Muslim villages scattered in Mindanao, but all these are subject to Philippine legislation. The offer is just like a leopard skin and we did not agree with it."
"Peace cannot be unilaterally imposed on the MILF and the Muslim people," Iqbal told the Mindanao Examiner.
The Muslim autonomous region is composed of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi -- which are among the poorest in the country torn by strife and clan wars since its creation in 1989.
The MILF previously proposed that the Muslims be given an option to choose in a referendum whether they wanted Mindanao to be an independent state or not.
Peace talks ended with both sides failing to sign any agreement on the most contentious issue -- ancestral domain -- which refers to the MILF demand for territory that will constitute a Muslim homeland. It is the single most important issue in the peace negotiations before the rebel group can reach a political settlement.
"The peace talks ended with nothing, but conditional offers from the Philippine government which we cannot accept," Iqbal said, adding, the Filipino President Gloria Arroyo has lack political will to resolve the decades old problems in Mindanao. "GMA lacks the political will to resolve the Mindanao problems." GMA refers to Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Ebrahim also said that offer was unacceptable to the Muslims. “This is a conditional offer that no real revolutionary group worthy of its name can accept,” he said.
Iqbal said the MILF has submitted its proposal to the government peace negotiators, but they disagreed on the scope of coverage of the Muslim ancestral domain. "There are still some contentious issues and these are the scope of Muslim territories under the ancestral domain and how the government and the MILF would share the resources in these areas," he said.
The ancestral domain covers the five Muslim autonomous provinces of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao. And other areas in Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani provinces where there are large communities of Muslims and indigenous tribes.
The MILF previously said it is willing to compromise if only to arrive at an acceptable, reasonable and comprehensive agreement that would include not only the Muslims, but all 18 ethnic tribal groups in Mindanao. Once an agreement is reached on how the MILF can govern these areas, government and rebel peace negotiators would finally discuss the political settlement of the country's longest-running Muslim insurgency problem.
Iqbal said Malaysia may pull out its cease-fire observers in Mindanao if the peace talks collapse. "Malaysia may recall all its cease-fire observers deployed in Mindanao if the peace talks totally collapse. That is the implication if the peace talks fail and Malaysia has implied this clearly to the MILF and the Philippine peace negotiators," Iqbal said.
The 60-man Malaysian-led international truce observers are deployed in Mindanao since last year to monitor the truce between MILF rebels and government forces.
Peace talks between the government and MILF started in January 1997 but the absence of a neutral third party bogged down the initiative. It was only on March 24, 2001, after the all-out war against the MILF declared by former President Joseph Estrada that Malaysia, at the behest of the Philippine government, facilitated the talks.
However, in February 2003, despite the avowed all-peace policy of President Arroyo, an all-out war was again declared against the rebels, but both sides later agreed to resume peace talks. Just this year, President Arroyo said that 80% of the peace talks have been completed and that permanent peace in Mindanao is within reach.
Ebrahim said the MILF will continue the peace talks, but warned the government that the rebel group would side with the Muslims should they decide on other means to continue their struggle for freedom.
“For the MILF, negotiation is still the best option to resolve the conflict in Mindanao. We have already spent so much time, efforts and resources for this,” Ebrahim said. “However, if the government insists to dilly-dally and treat the peace talks as mere counterinsurgency tool, who can blame the Bangsamoro people if they choose other means to continue their legitimate struggle for freedom and self-determination? For the MILF, we will stand by our people.”
2 comments:
MILF asks too much. Plebiscite is fair enough. Not good to take over an area where the locals do not want to be part. It makes the MILF wants just war.
If MILF knows what the Muslims want, there is no reason to be afraid of plebiscite.
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