MILF will resume talks

Muslim separatist guerrillas said yesterday they have agreed to resume formal talks with the government after the justice department dropped criminal charges against rebel leaders in connection with deadly bomb attacks in Davao City that killed 38 people last year.

"We have informed Malaysia of our eagerness to resume the talks because of the dropping of the charges," said Eid Kabalu, spokesman for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) who was among those charged over the bombings of the Davao International Airport and the Sasa wharf in March and April a year ago.

"We told them we’re ready to banish any suspicion that we still have reservations over continuing the peace negotiations," he said.

There has been no immediate response from third party facilitator Malaysia, Kabalu said.

Malaysia has been brokering the talks aimed at settling a decades-old bloody separatist uprising in the south by the MILF, but which stalled after government troops seized a major rebel stronghold and guerrilla leaders were charged over the Davao blasts.

In a bid to revive peace negotiations, the government gradually withdrew its troops from the MILF area in the vast Buliok complex and recently dropped charges against nearly 200 rebels, including its late leader, Salamat Hashim, current chief Al Haj Murad, vice chairman for political affairs Ghazali Jaafar and Kabalu.

Talks have been held on and off since 1997. — John Unson