Extremist threat haunts RP peace talks
Extremist threat haunts RP peace talks
MANILA (Reuter): The Philippines and the country's biggest rebel group resume talks in Jakarta next week haunted by threats of extremist violence if they fail to reach agreement on ending a 23-year Moslem revolt for self-rule.
"I hope the idea that time is running out will dawn on the government...If we can't solve this problem now, the next peace talks will be in the next century," Moslem rebel officer Abraham Iribani said yesterday.
The Nov. 27-Dec. 1 meeting will mark the third round of formal talks between President Fidel Ramos' government and the mainstream Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).
The talks are taking place against a backdrop of growing anxiety in Manila over possible violence from radical groups demanding a separate Islamic state in this overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country.
Presidential national security adviser Jose Almonte told reporters the government was viewing the situation with "much concern and seriousness" in light of manpower and arms buildup by guerrilla factions not involved in the negotiations.
Headed by former university professor Nur Misuari, the MNLF launched the uprising in 1972 on southern Mindanao island.
Located 800 kilometers south of Manila, Mindanao is the ancestral home of the country's five million Moslem minority, a region rich in minerals and a major producer of rice, grain and meat that help feed this country of 68 million.
Misuari has abandoned secession and is now negotiating for autonomy with the backing of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), which is mediating the Jakarta talks.
The army estimates that at least 50,000 people have been killed in the separatist war. MNLF puts the toll at 200,000.
Misuari's leadership has been challenged by three factions, primarily the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which the government considers more potentially dangerous than the MNLF.
Distancing itself from a cease-fire between the army and Misuari's 16,000-strong force, the MILF has strengthened its army to an estimated 5,000 to 8,000 men while beefing up its firepower with guns acquired from Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Two smaller groups, the Abu Sayyaf fundamentalists and the National Islamic Command Council, composed of young Moslem militants and MNLF veterans, are also waiting in the wings.
A bloody raid carried out jointly by the Abu Sayyaf and the Islamic Command in April on the Christian town of Ipil, in which 53 largely unarmed civilians were killed, is likely to haunt the talks.
Officials warn of similar attacks if negotiations fail.
"(We) have taken the position that we should be prepared for every eventuality," Defense Secretary Renato de Villa said.
Negotiators remain deadlocked on two major points that are at the heart of the autonomy issue.
The rebels want traditionally Moslem areas now dominated by Christians included in an MNLF-led autonomy zone and oppose government insistence that the scheme be put to a popular vote, fearing Christian residents in the area will reject it.