Moro rebels, govt sign local truce in southern RP

Moro rebels, govt sign local truce in southern RP

SULTAN KUDARAT, Philippines (AFP): Philippine Moro guerrillas and military officials meeting here agreed yesterday to a ceasefire to end week-long clashes, which have killed more than 40 people, a military official said.

The military and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) units involved in the clashes in Buldon will maintain "as is, where is" positions, said Army Major General Joselin Nazareno, who signed the ceasefire document.

The ceasefire paves the way for the resumption of preliminary talks, scheduled for Feb. 25-26, between the government and the MILF to prepare for formal peace negotiations.

The week of fighting claimed the lives of 40 MILF rebels and six soldiers, according to military estimates, but the MILF said it had killed 90 soldiers and damaged seven armored personnel carriers.

The clashes began on Jan. 16 when Mayor Macarampat Manalao was ambushed by rebel units while on his way to take up his offices at Buldon, 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of here. He escaped unharmed but two soldiers escorting him were killed.

Manalao was declared mayor in 1995 but was prevented from assuming his post by warring political factions and threats from the rebels, who had supported another candidate for mayor.

Sources in the military said that Manalao had complained the MILF were asking him to pay "revolutionary taxes" to the MILF, a claim the rebel group denies.

The MILF was left out of a major peace accord signed between Manila and the main Moslem rebel group Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) last year.

Nazareno and Lanang Ali, a lawyer who signed the agreement on the MILF's behalf, will resume talks on troop positions on Feb.9.

The ceasefire also called for the removal of MILF detachments and checkpoints along the highway linking the towns of Parang and Buldon, and guaranteed against provocative actions by either side, Nazareno said.

Military forces deployed in Buldon since Jan. 1 would be withdrawn from the area based on the army's evaluation of the peace and order situation, the agreement said.

"It is high time that we will be true to our words and deeds," Ali said, adding that "civilians suffered the greatest loss."

Nazareno hoped that this ceasefire would lead to the forging of a general ceasefire agreement in other troubled areas of the Philippine south.

In Manila, presidential management staff chief Alexander Aguirre said the government hoped to see peace in Buldon, and in MILF-held areas where vital infrastructure projects were located, as well as the war-ridden towns of the island of Basilan.

Executive Secretary Ruben Torres said that Manila had not made any request for the Organization of Islamic Conference to broker a deal between the two sides akin to the deal it helped negotiate between Manila and the MNLF.