COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 16, 2008) – Philippine peace negotiators resume stalled talks with Muslim rebels in an effort to settle more than four decades of hostilities in the troubled island of Mindanao.
Moro Islamic Liberation Front leaders said the issue on the ancestral domain must be resolved immediately as peace talks began Wednesday in Malaysia, which is brokering the seven-year negotiations between the Philippines’ largest Muslim secessionist rebel group and the Arroyo government.
The MILF previously said it will not sign any peace deal with the Arroyo government unless its demand for self-determination is granted.
The talks were stalled since last year after Manila rejected rebel demands for a separate state in the strife-torn, but mineral-rich southern Philippine region, where fighting between MILF mujahideen and government troops had escalated the past months despite a cease-fire deal.
Manila accused the MILF of coddling the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya militants and as behind the spate of bombings and kidnappings-for-ransom in Mindanao, which the rebels denied.
Eid Kabalu, an MILF leader, said they are optimistic that the talks would lead to a peaceful solution to the Muslim secessionist problems in Mindanao.
“We have repeatedly said that we are for a peaceful solution of the problems in Mindanao. We have opened the door in order for the talks to push through and for both sides to arrive at a viable formula that will benefit us all, all for peace in Mindanao,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.
Moro Islamic Liberation Front leaders said the issue on the ancestral domain must be resolved immediately as peace talks began Wednesday in Malaysia, which is brokering the seven-year negotiations between the Philippines’ largest Muslim secessionist rebel group and the Arroyo government.
The MILF previously said it will not sign any peace deal with the Arroyo government unless its demand for self-determination is granted.
The talks were stalled since last year after Manila rejected rebel demands for a separate state in the strife-torn, but mineral-rich southern Philippine region, where fighting between MILF mujahideen and government troops had escalated the past months despite a cease-fire deal.
Manila accused the MILF of coddling the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya militants and as behind the spate of bombings and kidnappings-for-ransom in Mindanao, which the rebels denied.
Eid Kabalu, an MILF leader, said they are optimistic that the talks would lead to a peaceful solution to the Muslim secessionist problems in Mindanao.
“We have repeatedly said that we are for a peaceful solution of the problems in Mindanao. We have opened the door in order for the talks to push through and for both sides to arrive at a viable formula that will benefit us all, all for peace in Mindanao,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.
A group of Malaysian truce observers deployed with the International Monitoring Team in Mindanao had already returned home and a small team is also expected to follow next month when the terms of reference of the cease-fire group ends. Malaysia blamed Manila for stalling the talks.
The MILF has warned the government that the pull of the Malaysian truce observers would put the peace talks in jeopardy because of the military's continued violations of the cease-fire agreement. Security officials denied the MILF allegations and said rebels were attacking troops without provocation.
The MILF also called on its members to prepare for a long struggle for freedom as rebel forces and government troops sporadically clash in the provinces.
“The central leadership of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front has called on its members throughout Mindanao and Sulu to prepare for a long struggle for freedom and right of self determination of the Bangsamoro people,” it said. (Mindanao Examiner)
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