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.