Talks with MILF to resume on April 16, says gov’t negotiator

Formal talks to end the decades-old Muslim secessionist struggle in Mindanao will resume on April 16 in Malaysia, government peace negotiator Silvestre Afable announced yesterday.

Afable said the agreement to resume the stalled peace negotiations was reached following a four-hour meeting with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chairman Al Hadj Murad in Darapanan, Sultan Kudarat.

The meeting between government representatives and the MILF was arranged by Dato’ Othman bin Abdul Razak, director general of the Malaysian Prime Minister’s Office.

"President Arroyo is backing the peace talks with full political will and everybody is on board to respond with strong momentum," Afable said.

He said Murad confirmed their readiness to push through and pointed out that a team had been organized for the peace talks with the Philippine government.

Afable said both sides acknowledged the success of the ceasefire agreement as well as joint efforts to neutralize lawless groups.

Both sides have been observing the ceasefire for the past 20 months, monitored by the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT) but the negotiations during that period had been informal.

"We have a consensus with the Malaysian government that abundant goodwill has been invested in the ceasefire, which has held firm for a year and a half, to move on to the meat of the negotiations," Afable said.

He said the MILF chief is committed to secure a sincere partnership with the government "to work for a final solution to the conflict and I have utmost confidence that the MILF central committee and the MILF peace panel will bring this goal to its logical conclusion."

Afable said the talks covered a wide range of issues, including a larger role for the Bangsamoro Development Agency, a project to be set up by the MILF to carry out rehabilitation and development in areas affected by the conflict.

He said Othman conveyed the commitment of the Malaysian government to host the peace talks and lead the IMT as well as accept the MILF nominees for the peace negotiations.

The IMT is currently deployed in known conflict areas in Mindanao to monitor the ceasefire agreement between the government and the MILF.

The last informal talks were held in Malaysia on Dec. 21 and 22 last year. Presidential adviser on the peace process Teresita Deles said they were only preparatory talks for the formal resumption of the peace negotiations with the Philippine government.

Several issues have been raised which strained the ceasefire agreement with the MILF.

Although the MILF has renounced terrorism and pledged to help the government hunt down foreign extremists, they have been dogged by accusations that the group is sheltering operatives of the regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah, despite repeated denials.

The military believes the MILF has about 11,500 fighters with about 8,700 firearms.

Malacañang has said the isolated attacks by some MILF guerrillas would not affect the government’s commitment to enter into a peace accord with the MILF.

President Arroyo also maintained only a small group of rogue MILF fighters is aligning with the JI.

Afable said both sides were grateful that Malaysia was involved in the full menu of the peace process, together with Brunei and Libya in the IMT.