Rebels urged to press on RP

Rebels urged to press on RP

MANILA (AFP): The self-exiled leader of the Philippines' long- running communist insurgency yesterday called on his fighters to keep up the pressure on Manila as the two sides head for peace talks in Belgium in June.

Jose Maria Sison, who founded the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in 1968, said in a statement that the talks, set to begin in Brussels on June 1, "will be far more difficult" than preliminary talks which ended last week.

President Fidel Ramos announced on Saturday that the two sides had signed a "Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees" in the Netherlands which would enable the two sides to begin formal talks.

Sison, who has been allowed by the Dutch government to seek political asylum, describes himself as a consultant for the front. But the Philippine government says he has reassumed the chairmanship of the CPP and is now directing the dwindling insurgency from his base in the Dutch city of Utrecht.