MILF to negotiate peace at own pace

DAVAO CITY — The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said yesterday it is in no rush to forge a final peace accord despite the government’s repeated pronouncements that an agreement will be signed in six months.

"We are not in a hurry. Why be in a hurry? We are slow but sure and we do not want (to make) the same mistake committed by the MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front) and government before," MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said.

He explained that the MILF learned valuable lessons after the peace agreement between the MNLF and the government was never fully implemented after it was signed on Sept. 2, 1996 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

"They were fast and swift on the signing and it turned out what they have agreed (upon) could not be implemented on the ground," Kabalu said.

MNLF officials earlier said the government was not able to comply with the concessions it agreed to give them, including the issue regarding the composition of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The government also effected the ouster and eventual arrest of former MNLF chairman Nur Misuari, who remains detained at the police training Camp Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

ARMM Gov. Parouk Hussin earlier told The STAR that the 1996 agreement between the government and the MNLF will have to be amended to suit the concessions the government will offer the MILF.

Kabalu brushed aside the six-month timetable given by government officials for the MNLF to sign a peace agreement.

"It is nothing since the pronouncement was not a product of a bilateral agreement by both parties. It is only the government that is declaring it," he said.

President Arroyo has said several times that peace with the MILF was within reach. However, this final peace accord remains elusive.

"We cannot put a timetable for the signing of that peace agreement. The negotiations have to go on and issues have to be thoroughly discussed by both parties," Kabalu said.

The two panels were supposed to resume formal peace talks in Kuala Lumpur today but this was reset after negotiators on both sides found certain refinements needed to be done before the talks can take place.

Formal peace negotiations were stalled in 2001 following strong disagreements over the issues of ancestral domain and on who should implement the development package for the Muslim people in Mindanao.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said yesterday that the government will likely seal a peace pact with the MILF in six months provided both sides cooperate and strictly stick to a ceasefire.

He said a draft document that would serve as "reference material" for government negotiators and MILF leaders was being worked out to kickstart the next round of talks. — With AFP