Gov't-MILF talks resume today

COTABATO CITY -- The government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) return to peace talks today after a month of bloody fighting and charges that the guerrillas were behind two deadly shopping mall bombings in Manila.

This developed as thousands of peace advocates from all over Mindanao are expected to hold a prayer-rally today in front of the Estosan Hotel here where the talks are to be held.

A peace caravan organized by the Catholic Church and participated in by 500 people from Davao City, Davao del Sur and North Cotabato arrived here yesterday afternoon to express support for the peace talks.

In Upi, Maguindanao, about 38 kilometers southwest of here, some 5,000 Muslims, Christians and ethnic Tirurays held a four-hour peace rally capped by the signing of a peace covenant by their leaders.

On the eve of the talks, the Army pursued an offensive to capture a major MILF training base, illustrating the challenges both sides face in their efforts to bring peace to Mindanao.

"Our field commanders have recommended that we take this camp since it continues to pose a threat to the peace and order situation," military spokesman Col. Rafael Romero said of the MILF's Camp Bushra.

Clashes were also reported in a village outside the MILF's bastion of Camp Abubakar outside this city.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said the guerrillas were maintaining a defensive position to protect their camps.

Government and MILF negotiators said they were still unsure how long the latest round of talks here would last, with both panels expected to deliberate on whether to extend the meeting beyond today.

Kabalu warned the shelling of Camp Abubakar could force chief MILF negotiator Aleem Abdulaziz Mimbantas to skip the talks in Cotabato City. Mimbantas, in the nearby city of Marawi, has to pass through a major highway where skirmishes were still underway yesterday, Kabalu said.

MILF deputy chief for political affairs Ghazali Jaafar is likely to take Mimbantas' place if he fails to arrive, he added.

Chief government negotiator Edgardo Batenga said the panels were expected to discuss "the most substantive issues that will address the armed conflict and attain a just, comprehensive and lasting peace" in Mindanao.

The "repositioning" of guerrillas from the Narciso Ramos Highway, a major artery of trade and commerce in central Mindanao, was also among the topics up for discussion, Batenga said.

Press Secretary Ricardo Puno said last week the government may offer autonomy for the region controlled by the 15,000-strong MILF.

The zone covers an area bigger than Metro Manila and many times larger than Singapore, he said.

Formal talks aimed at forging a political settlement to the MILF's 22-year armed struggle for an independent Islamic state were launched earlier this year after three years of preliminary discussions.

The last round of talks in late April was cut short by heavy fighting outside Camp Abubakar in what has been described as one of the fiercest battles between the two forces.

Police over the weekend blamed the MILF for deadly bomb blasts inside two upscale shopping malls in Manila, and announced the arrests of 26 suspected MILF members alleged to have been responsible for the explosions which left one dead and 30 injured.

National Police chief Panfilo Lacson said some of the suspects were members of the MILF's special operations unit tasked with sowing terror in the capital.

Kabalu denied yesterday the 26 were MILF members, saying there have been no orders to include Manila in its theater of operations.

Lacson said yesterday the arrests which followed raids Saturday in safehouses in the capital had "greatly diminished" the threat of more bombings.

"I have no authority to say that this is foolproof -- that there will be no more bombings.

"So my orders to the national police is not to lower their guard, that they should maintain their high level of security consciousness," he said on ABS-CBN television.