SULTAN KUDARAT, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 04, 2008) – The Philippines’ largest Muslim rebel group, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, praised Britain for its offer to send experts to help in peace negotiations in the strife-torn region of Mindanao.
The MILF is currently negotiating peace with Manila, but talks had been stalled since last year after over demands for territories in Mindanao, the country’s second largest island and home to more than four million Muslims and over 17 million mostly Christians.
It said the Philippine peace panel headed by Rodolfo Garcia agreed on the scope of the Muslim ancestral domain, but later reneged on the accord that will constitute a separate homeland for Muslims and at least 18 indigenous tribes in Mindanao.
The MILF is currently negotiating peace with Manila, but talks had been stalled since last year after over demands for territories in Mindanao, the country’s second largest island and home to more than four million Muslims and over 17 million mostly Christians.
It said the Philippine peace panel headed by Rodolfo Garcia agreed on the scope of the Muslim ancestral domain, but later reneged on the accord that will constitute a separate homeland for Muslims and at least 18 indigenous tribes in Mindanao.
The ancestral domain is the single most important issue in the peace negotiations before the rebel group can reach a political settlement and with the talks stalled; the hope of ending more than three decades of bloody hostilities remains dim.
Many rebel commanders are getting frustrated and restless over the failure of the seven-year old peace talks with the Arroyo government.
British ambassador Peter Beckingham said three or four experts who were involved in peace talks in Northern Ireland are arriving soon in the Philippines to help re-start the stalled peace talks.
The British also launched a two-year, P14 million leadership training program in the Philippines to develop Islamic leaders who will actively work in reforming education and governance, among others, in a bid to help counter radicalism.
“This is good news. It is a positive development and we hope the British experts will arrive very soon so we can meet with them and discuss the peace process in Mindanao. We welcome the British support to the peace process and we appreciate it very much,” Eid Kabalu, a spokesman of the MILF, told the Mindanao Examiner.
Malaysia, which is brokering the peace talks, said it would pull out its cease-fire observers deployed in Mindanao if there is no progress in the negotiations.
Kabalu said the pull out of the Malaysia-led International Monitoring team will put the cease-fire agreement and the peace talks at risk because Filipino troops in the past had always encroached in so-called MILF territories sparking sporadic clashes that often lead to bigger clashes in central Mindanao.
Since the IMT arrived, fighting between security and rebel forces drastically decreased from 698 armed clashes in 2004 to just 7 incidents last year.
The IMT is composed of at least 41 officers from the Malaysian Defense Forces, the Royal Malaysia Police, and the Prime Minister's Department and is also supported by 10 military officers from Brunei Darussalam and 5 from Libya. Canada and Japan have also members on the team.
The MILF has repeatedly urged Manila to resume the stalled talks, but either it had been ignored or was overtaken by corruption scandals in the government and anti-Arroyo protests in Manila.
Murad Ebrahim, the MILF chieftain, also appealed to rebel forces and supporters for patience over the failure of peace talks with Manila.
"The road to freedom is always full of twist and turn and to overcome, we must work, persist, and sacrifice," Ebrahim said.
It was the second time the MILF appealed to Muslims and rebels for patience over the slow progress of the peace talks. Mohagher Iqbal, chief MILF peace negotiator, also appealed to Muslims to remain calm and patient over the failure of the talks.
Iqbal said that the ugly turn of event in the peace process is taxing the patience of the MILF and the Muslims, who may be compelled to resort to other means of resolving the Mindanao conflict when they are pushed to the wall and become hopeless in the peace process.
President Gloria Arroyo has opened up peace talks with the MILF in 2001, but since then no substantial agreements have been signed between the two sides, expect for the cease-fire accord.
The MILF ancestral domain covers the whole of Muslim autonomous region 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.
And even Palawan Island in central Philippines and the Sulu Archipelago.The Philippine military previously demanded MILF rebels to lay down their weapons before peace talks could resume. (Mindanao Examiner)
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