600 RP Moro fighters surrender to authorities

600 RP Moro fighters surrender to authorities

CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines (Agencies): More than 600 Muslim
rebels, including a commander, surrendered on Thursday in a
ceremony led by Philippine President Joseph Estrada, who urged
the remaining guerrillas to resume peace talks with the
government.

"We must resolve our differences through peaceful means
because fighting among ourselves will never bring any good to
either one of us," Estrada said.

He said the common enemy of both sides was poverty. "I cannot
fight poverty alone," he said. "I need the help of Christians, I
need the help of Muslims, I need the help of everyone."

Estrada stood on a grandstand as he led the 609 former members
of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, most still wearing
camouflage uniforms with rebel insignias, in pledging allegiance
to the government.

In front of the stage was a long table bearing more than 400
firearms that belonged to the rebels. The surrendering guerrillas
were led by Malupandi "Commander Lupay" Cosain, a vice mayor from
Lanao del Sur province who had joined the Muslim insurgency.

The group was largest to surrender since the military launched
a major assault against the MILF early this year. Government
troops have seized 39 MILF camps, including 14 major rebel
strongholds, Estrada said.

Estrada suspended peace talks with the MILF on June 30 after
the guerrillas refused to abandon their secessionist goal, stop
rebel attacks and lay down their arms.

MILF chairman Salamat Hashim responded by declaring a jihad,
or holy war, against the government and dismantled the rebel
peace negotiating team.

More than 200 soldiers have been killed in clashes with the
guerrillas since January, the military says. Rebel casualties are
not known.

"We ask our Muslim brothers ...to convey to their leaders and
their colleagues our earnest desire for them to go back to the
negotiating table and rejoin our society," Estrada said.

The MILF is the larger of two groups fighting for an
independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines. The other,
the Abu Sayyaf, is holding four foreigners and a Filipino hostage
on southern Jolo island.

On Wednesday, Vice President Gloria Arroyo said she favors
mediation by a group of Islamic countries in the stalled talks
with the MILF.

Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon, head of a Cabinet committee
in charge of national security, said he was not ruling out
involvement of the group, the 56-nation Organization of Islamic
Conference.

Their statements indicated an easing of the government's hard-
line stance of not allowing third-party mediation and insisting
on holding talks only in the Philippines.

Meanwhile, government troops have widened their search for
five hostages held by the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas to islands on the
border with Malaysia and arrested one of the kidnappers, the
military said on Thursday.

Burahan Jawad, who took part in the April 23 Abu Sayyaf
kidnapping raid of the Malaysian-controlled resort of Sipadan,
was detained on Tawi-Tawi island on Monday, police spokesmen
said.

A military and police task force later deployed on Sitankai,
one of the Tawi-Tawi island group, for a "follow-up operation to
neutralize" the Abu Sayyaf members hiding in the area, they
added.

Attention shifted to the Tawi-Tawi island group -- the
southernmost tip of the Philippines and about 30 minutes by
speedboat from the Malaysian state of Sabah -- after the self-
styled Muslim separatist rebels reportedly deserted their
stronghold in the southern island of Jolo.

There have been no armed clashes between the gunmen and the
military rescuers for three days.