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.