Philippine Moro rebels hail Indonesian offer to mediate

Philippine Moro rebels hail Indonesian offer to mediate

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AFP): Moro separatist rebels in the
Philippines welcomed on Thursday an offer by Indonesian President
Abdurahman Wahid to mediate in peace talks with Manila.

Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) spokesman Eid Kabalu said
his group was "very open to that offer," noting that Indonesia
was an influential member of the Organization of Islamic
Conference (OIC).

"They will be able to help a lot in the peaceful resolution of
the problem in Mindanao," Kabalu told AFP.

Wahid on Thursday offered to mediate in the conflict between
Manila and Filipino Muslim rebels, with Indonesia as the venue
for peace talks.

"There was an announcement by the government in the
Philippines that they would like to have a third party,
Indonesia, as a mediator for negotiations. Well of course, they
are welcome here, they can chose any city for that," Wahid said.

"I said to friends in Mindanao (in the Southern Philippines)
that they can use Indonesia to talk, to negotiate," Wahid told a
private seminar here on Indonesia's future.

"I even said that they could use Manado for that and I would
be very glad to preside at the opening of those negotiations."

Wahid also said that the government had made available an
island in the bay of Jakarta for the use of leaders of the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), should they wish to leave the
Philippines.

"I have also set aside Pantar Barat, an island in the Bay of
Jakarta, to become a place for (MILF leader) Hasyim Selamat to
live if he chooses to go away from the Philippines," Wahid said.

He said he was initially making the island available for six
months and added that the choice of Pantar Barat had been made by
Armed Forces Chief Admiral Widodo Adisucipto.

"I think this will be a venue for MILF people to come and go
as they like," Wahid added.

The MILF have been waging a 23-year rebellion for the
establishment of an independent Islamic state in Mindanao, the
main southern island of this largely-Roman Catholic archipelago.

MILF leaders in a meeting with Philippine officials in
Malaysia last month agreed to resume peace talks with Manila
within two months at a "mutually acceptable foreign venue."

Manila has earlier said that the talks could be held on a
rotating basis between Manila, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur.

The MILF on Wednesday also announced the composition of its
panel, to be headed by its military chief Mohammad Murad and its
legal counsel Lanang Ali.

MILF political affairs adviser Ghazali Jaafar said the
leadership of the 12,500-strong rebel force was open to holding
the talks in Indonesia and Malaysia, but stressed that Manila
would have to be the one to formalize the venue.

"We in the MILF accept any of the two countries as the venue
of the talks," he said. "We are just waiting (for the Philippine
government) to finalize the venue of the formal talks."

Jaafar said the MILF panel would insist that an OIC-member
country officially participate in the negotiations and not just
provide the venue.

The MILF would also not give up its secessionist demand,
unlike the larger Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) which
settled for limited autonomy when it signed a peace deal in 1986.
The MILF is a breakaway faction of the MNLF and was excluded from
the peace accord.

Peace talks between Manila and the MILF broke down last year
after then-president Joseph Estrada launched a massive assault
that dislodged the rebels from their Mindanao strongholds.