RP officials to meet MILF rebels in KL

RP officials to meet MILF rebels in KL

Agencies, Cotabato, Philippines

Philippine government negotiators said on Wednesday they expected to meet with Muslim separatist leaders later this month in hopes of restarting peace talks, despite continuing clashes and a deadly ambush a day earlier.

Presidential advisers Eduardo Ermita and Norberto Gonzales told reporters they were informed by Malaysian officials that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has agreed to send representatives to Kuala Lumpur for talks later this month.

Rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu confirmed that rebels would attend preliminary talks.

"We will be sending representatives because what will be discussed there ... is only back channeling, not yet the peace process, not yet the peace talks," Kabalu said, adding that no date has been set.

Both Kabalu and Gonzales said the meeting in Kuala Lumpur will be informal and exploratory.

Talks between the government and rebels were suspended in 2001, and put off indefinitely after the military overran a key rebel stronghold on the main southern island of Mindanao last month.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said on Wednesday she might invoke special powers for authorities to deal with reprisal attacks by Muslim militants if the United States invades Iraq.

As part of a heightened security alert against sympathy attacks in the Philippines, the police said they had detained 10 Iraqi nationals on Monday for questioning.

"We may have to need something like this," Arroyo told reporters, when asked if she was considering the use of emergency powers. "For those planning terrorist attacks, we'll see what sort of powers we would need."

Arroyo gave the military and police emergency powers to arrest people without a warrant in May 2001 after supporters of ousted- president Joseph Estrada tried to storm the presidential palace.

Arroyo has staunchly backed U.S. President George W. Bush's war on terror but the National Security Council, which she chairs, said on Tuesday the Philippines supported "one last chance for a diplomatic solution" in the Iraq crisis.

The U.S. has given Saddam Hussein until 0115 GMT (8:15 a.m. Jakarta time) Thursday to leave Iraq or face a war.

Officials have expressed concern that Muslim separatist rebels in the south might carry out bombings in Manila if the United States and its allies invade Iraq.

The Philippines could also be targeted for the U.S. training its troops have received to battle Islamic and communist rebels. Police have blamed the biggest Muslim separatist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), for an explosion on March 4 at the southern Davao city airport which killed 22 people.

The 10 Iraqis were being detained "as a precaution in case of war in Iraq" after being rounded up on Monday, an immigration bureau spokesman said.

"We're conducting thorough background checks on them," police intelligence chief Romeo Ricardo said. "We're checking if they are involved with local terrorist groups which might be planning sympathy attacks in Manila."

The Philippines expelled an Iraqi diplomat last month for his alleged links to the Muslim Abu Sayyaf group, believed to be connected to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

The Abu Sayyaf is blamed for a bombing in southern Zamboanga city in October which killed a U.S. soldier and three Filipinos.