RP calls off talks with MILF rebels

RP calls off talks with MILF rebels

Agencies, Manila/Kuala Lumpur

The Philippines on Tuesday scrapped planned peace talks and stepped up efforts to hunt down Muslim guerrillas blamed for a weekend assault in which 34 people were killed and more than 20 wounded.

The government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) had been scheduled to hold exploratory talks in Malaysia from Friday, aimed at kick-starting the peace process.

But an attack by MILF guerrillas on Siocon town on the southern island of Mindanao on Sunday prompted the government to shelve the planned discussions.

"I have instructed our peace negotiators to inform the Malaysian government of our wish to postpone the exploratory talks in Kuala Lumpur until we can establish more auspicious circumstances," President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said in a statement.

Malaysia had offered to host the talks in a bid to end a decades-old conflict between the government and the MILF. The MILF is fighting for a separate Muslim state in the south of this largely Roman Catholic country.

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian defense minister Najib Razak on Tuesday expressed hope that aborted peace talks between the Philippines and Muslim separatists in southern Philippines will be rescheduled soon.

Najib said Malaysia, which had played the role of a mediator, was disappointed that the second round of exploratory peace talks could not take place here as planned this week.

"We hope in due course the (peace talks) can be rescheduled. I am waiting for an official response from the Philippine government as to the reasons for the postponement," he was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency.

Arroyo had hoped to use the influence of predominantly Muslim Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to convince the restive Filipino Muslims to stop their alleged support of terrorists, drop their independence bid and accept a government offer of limited self-rule in the south.

Najib said that peace talks cannot be held if both sides were fighting.

"It has been postponed until a suitable time. We'll call on both parties to return to the negotiating table as soon as possible," he said.

Najib said that Kuala Lumpur was committed to finding a solution to the crisis.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu has said the weekend attack in Siocon was a defensive response to the military's stepped-up campaign against the group.

Arroyo said it was a terrorist act and ordered the armed forces to hunt down MILF members responsible for it.

"We shall pursue an all-out legal offensive against the leaders of the MILF, while conducting punitive action against the direct perpetrators of terrorist acts," she said.

On Monday the government offered a reward of 50 million pesos (US$960,000) for information leading to the capture of MILF leaders accused of organizing the Siocon attack.

A court had previously issued arrest warrants for the leaders, who are accused of masterminding bomb attacks that killed a total of 38 people at an airport and a ferry terminal in southern Davao City in March and April.

The MILF's Kabalu, who is on the government's arrest list, said Manila's decision to offer a bounty for its leaders was likely to disrupt peace talks, but said the group remained committed to working for a peaceful resolution of the Mindanao problem.

The MILF has clashed frequently with the military following an army offensive launched earlier this year against one of its strongholds on Mindanao.

Armed Forces vice-chief Lt. Gen. Rodolfo Garcia said a study group was mulling over whether to declare the MILF a terrorist organization, after a string of attacks on civilians.

Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said on television on Tuesday: "That was discussed yesterday but no consensus was reached. That is always an option but would be availed of as a last resort."