Philippines and Moro talks formally open
Philippines and Moro talks formally open
DAVAO, Philippines (Agencies): Peace talks with Moro rebels
formally opened in this southern city late yesterday, delayed by
backroom negotiations to solve remaining problems.
Most of the day was taken up with trying to resolve a dispute
over demands by the Moslem insurgent group, the Moro National
Liberation Front (MNLF), for the setting up of a powerful police
force that would give teeth to a transitional government leading
to an Islamic autonomous region.
MNLF chairman Nur Misuari said that a regional security force
to police the area must be set up to enable the transitional
government to enforce law and order and maintain the peace needed
for economic development.
Government negotiators said Misuari wanted the force to be
directly under the council's command, while Manila wants it to
remain under the Philippine National Police.
Misuari also hinted he was agreeable to a government
compromise formula that would resolve another problem, whether
the issue of an autonomous region would be put to a vote.
This compromise would involve the setting up of a transitional
mechanism called the "Southern Philippines Council for Peace and
Development" that would govern parts of the southern Philippines
for three years.
This would allow Misuari to allay the fears of the area's
large Christian majority that a Moslem autonomous region would
discriminate against them.
The negotiations will resume today, with members of both
panels making themselves available for tomorrow if more issues
need to be resolved.
Misuari also said he was ready to make peace with the
government but warned any stop-gap solution to the southern
Philippine rebellion would only breed a new war.
"I believe there is a very big chance that we can conclude
this year," Misuari told a news conference in a cramped room of
the Davao Insular Century Hotel on Thursday night.
"To me, there is no better opportunity than now to put the
final touches to our agreement."
But he warned that the MNLF, the main insurgent group fighting
for Moslem self-rule in the southern islands, would not accept a
stop-gap solution to the massive problems of poverty and
injustice that drove Moslems to revolt.
"If all what we could do is come up with a stop-gap solution,
I don't know whether what we are going to sow is permanent peace
in the end or it would be just sowing another seed for another
round of war," he said.
The so-called Southern Philippine Council for Peace and
Development that Manila is offering to establish would oversee
development efforts in a proposed autonomous region covering at
least 13 southern provinces and nine cities.
Once the council is formed, Moro guerrillas will be integrated
into the Philippine armed forces.