Guingona to head peace talks

Guingona to head peace talks

MANILA (AFP): Philippine Vice President Teofisto Guingona is to leave for Libya on Monday to lead officials in the opening of peace talks with the country's main Muslim separatist group.

Guingona, who is also foreign minister, told reporters on Sunday that representatives from Malaysia and Indonesia will also attend the June 20 talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to be hosted by Libyan president Moammar Qaddafi.

Libya, along with fellow Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) members Malaysia and Indonesia, helped initiate peace talks between Manila and the larger Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1996.

The 12,500-strong MILF is the country's main Muslim separatist group waging a 23-year war for the establishment of an independent Islamic state in the south. It splintered from the MNLF in 1978 and was left out of the 1996 peace accord.