MILF talks unlikely to resume this month

COTABATO CITY – The resumption of peace negotiations between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is “unlikely” to occur this month because both sides differ on how to break the stalemate.

The MILF branded as “untrue” what they described as “insinuations” by the government claiming there are back-channel efforts to revive the peace talks with the rebel group.

MILF deputy chairman for information Khaled Musa said the government cannot set any date for the resumption of peace talks without the concurrence of Malaysia, the facilitator of the negotiations.

Musa pointed out any proposal to resume the peace talks would have to be channeled through Malaysia, as a procedure long agreed by the MILF and the GRP panel.

The peace talks were suspended after the Supreme Court (SC) ordered both parties to set aside the signing of a preliminary peace deal on August that could have allowed the MILF self rule and control over an expanded autonomous Muslim region in Mindanao.

Hostilities later erupted after an MILF faction launched attacks in Central Mindanao in apparent protest to the aborted signing of the agreement.

The SC later declared the territorial deal as unconstitutional, which eventually led to the trashing of the agreement.

Press Secretary Jesus Dureza announced before reporters in Shariff Kabunsuan last week that the talks would resume this month, most likely after President Arroyo’s trip to Qatar.

Dureza said the Philippines could learn something from Qatar’s experience in its pacification effort, also as a mediator, in past internal conflicts in Lebanon.

The MILF, on the other hand, warned the government against making any pronouncements of resumption of the peace talks.

MILF chief negotiator Muhaquer Iqbal said there is no positive indication that peace talks would resume by Dec. 22.

Iqbal insisted that for talks to resume, the signing of the controversial Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) would have to take place first.

Iqbal said the MILF would not even agree to have the MOA-AD renegotiated, as it is already a “done deal,” even after the SC had declared it unconstitutional.

Even as the peace talks are still on hold, both sides are seeing to it that the ceasefire agreement is properly implemented.

Representatives from the UN have made a visit to Mindanao to witness how the six-year old ceasefire agreement is working.

Brig. Gen. Reynaldo D. Sealana, chairman of the government panel on the joint GRP-MILF ceasefire committee, assured the UN Special Representative on Children in Armed Conflict (CIAC) that the joint ceasefire mechanism is a big boost to the government’s effort to have lasting peace in Mindanao.

Sealana said the ceasefire prevented the spillover of fighting instigated by rogue MILF guerrillas in Central Mindanao.

He told the UN representatives that the ceasefire helped maintain the overall peace and order situation amid some armed skirmishes between government troops and rogue MILF groups.

Sealana stressed the ceasefire is still holding even after the Malaysian-led international peace monitors left the country after their tour of duty ended last November.

The military, however, is planning a major realignment of troops to Mindanao next year following an assessment of the security situation in the region.

Army spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner said the repositioning of troops would depend on the peace and order situation, particularly in areas affected by the military operations against the renegade MILF rebels.

“What we are looking at is really, not an augmentation of troops but a realignment of troops,” Brawner said.

“We are going to have an assessment of the real situation on the ground and there will be the necessary adjustments that will be done after the Suspension of Offensive Military Operations (SOMO),” he said.

Brawner said there would be no reduction of troops in Maguindanao and Lanao del Norte even after the MILF rebels have taken to guerrilla warfare to fight the military.

Brawner said the Army is hoping to create the earlier requirement of six additional infantry battalions for immediate deployment in areas where they are needed most.

There are about 4,000 troops deployed in the provinces of Central Mindanao going after the MILF renegades who took part in the bloody rampage last August that killed scores of people and left thousands injured and homeless.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said the military operations against the MILF renegades would continue even during the holidays.

“We would strengthen our campaign against threat groups and lawless elements through even stronger legal backing, stronger legal enforcements. We will work closer with the police force and the prosecutorial services to really bring people to justice,” Teodoro said. – With Jose Rodel Clapano, James Mananghaya