Rights groups urge RP to resume peace talks with Moro rebels

Rights groups urge RP to resume peace talks with Moro rebels

BANGKOK (AFP): Asian human rights groups urged Philippine President Joseph Estrada on Friday to resume peace talks with Moro separatist guerrillas in the south of the country.

The Asian Forum for Human Rights slammed Manila's "all-out war policy" against the rebels which they said had led to serious human rights violations in the southern region of Mindanao.

Such a policy "rules out strong possibilities for a peaceful solution to the century-long conflict in Mindanao," it said in a statement released here ahead of a meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers.

Philippine government officials have denied allegations of human rights abuses or a war policy, saying the attacks were targeted at the guerrillas, not the Muslim populace.

Filipino government troops earlier this month captured the last remaining stronghold of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the country's biggest Moro rebel group.

The capture of Camp Abubakar culminated a government offensive launched in April, but also crushed hopes for the resumption of the peace process aimed at forging a lasting settlement to the conflict.

In the statement, the human rights group called on Manila to "stop the war ... by withdrawing the troops from the areas of conflict and to put a halt to indiscriminate bombing and the use of weapons of mass destruction."

More than 60 percent of the Philippine armed forces have been deployed in Mindanao, where the smaller separatist group Abu Sayyaf is holding a group of foreign and local hostages.

The rights group also sought the safe return of about 350,000 people displaced by the fighting and the resumption of peace negotiations "without preconditions."

A third party to mediate and monitor the negotiations was also proposed.

President Estrada has said the rebels must renounce their bid for independence and lay down their arms before peace talks can resume.