COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 26, 2008) – The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) blamed Manila for the collapse of the peace talks after government negotiators reneged again on a deal that would grant Filipino Muslims a separate homeland in the strife-torn, but mineral-rich region of Mindanao.
The talks collapsed Friday in Malaysia after government peace negotiators attempted to make changes on an earlier deal on ancestral domain. “The talks collapsed because the government was undoing already-settled issues on ancestral domain,” Mohagher Iqbal, chief MILF peace negotiator, said.
Iqbal said the formal signing of the agreement on the ancestral domain set on August 5 was cancelled. The collapse of the talks came barely two weeks after government and rebel peace negotiators agreed on the ancestral domain, which Manila said was a breakthrough in the seven-year old peace talks aimed at putting an end to more than four decades bloody fighting in Mindanao.
President Gloria Arroyo even supported a proposal to postpone the August 11 elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao for the peace talks to succeed after the MILF urged Manila to suspend the polls until after a peace agreement is signed.
Manila also said it would propose to amend the Constitution to allow plebiscite on areas under the ancestral domain that would make up the so-called Bangsamoro Juridical Entity and give Muslims their own homeland.
The MILF previously said it will not sign any peace deal with the Arroyo government unless its demand for self-determination is granted. Last year, peace talks were also stalled after government negotiators reneged on the same deal.
The talks collapsed Friday in Malaysia after government peace negotiators attempted to make changes on an earlier deal on ancestral domain. “The talks collapsed because the government was undoing already-settled issues on ancestral domain,” Mohagher Iqbal, chief MILF peace negotiator, said.
Iqbal said the formal signing of the agreement on the ancestral domain set on August 5 was cancelled. The collapse of the talks came barely two weeks after government and rebel peace negotiators agreed on the ancestral domain, which Manila said was a breakthrough in the seven-year old peace talks aimed at putting an end to more than four decades bloody fighting in Mindanao.
President Gloria Arroyo even supported a proposal to postpone the August 11 elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao for the peace talks to succeed after the MILF urged Manila to suspend the polls until after a peace agreement is signed.
Manila also said it would propose to amend the Constitution to allow plebiscite on areas under the ancestral domain that would make up the so-called Bangsamoro Juridical Entity and give Muslims their own homeland.
The MILF previously said it will not sign any peace deal with the Arroyo government unless its demand for self-determination is granted. Last year, peace talks were also stalled after government negotiators reneged on the same deal.
The ancestral domain covers the whole of Muslim autonomous region and other areas in Zamboanga Peninsula, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani provinces where there are large communities of Muslims and indigenous tribes. And even Palawan Island in central Philippines.
Eid Kabalu, an MILF leader, said the collapse of the talks would have a serious repercussion on the peace process. “We cannot do anything about it anymore. This is the choice of the Philippine government and it should take responsibility at the consequences of its actions that led to the collapse of the peace talks,” he said in a separate interview.
Kabalu said many rebels did not know that the talks in Kuala Lumpur had collapsed. “All they thought the talks went on smoothly. It was a false hope and now we do not know what will happen next,” he said.
Arroyo opened peace talks with the MILF in 2001 after deposing President Joseph Estrada in a bloodless revolution. But despite the peace talks, sporadic fighting between rebels and soldiers still continue in Mindanao with both sides accusing each other of violating a fragile truce accord.
Last year, rebel forces killed dozens of soldiers in fierce battle in Basilan and Sulu islands after security forces encroached inside MILF strongholds while pursuing Abu Sayyaf militants tied to Al-Qaeda.
The MILF is fighting for the establishment of a strict Islamic state in Mindanao, whose more than 18 million populations include about 4 million Muslims. The Arroyo government previously offered the MILF the whole of the Muslim autonomous region, which 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 flatly rejected the offer and insisted on self-determination. But peace negotiators earlier this month signed an agreement in Kuala Lumpur that will empower the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity to build, develop and maintain its own institutions, inclusive of civil service, electoral, financial and banking, education, legislation, legal, economic, police and internal security force, judicial system and correctional institutions necessary for developing a progressive Muslim society. (Mindanao Examiner)
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