RP rebels say peace talks need more time
RP rebels say peace talks need more time
CYBERJAYA, Malaysia (Reuters): Philippine government and Moro rebels said unresolved issues prevented them from signing a ceasefire in Malaysia as planned on Monday, the eve of a visit by Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
"There are still issues to be resolved," Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chief negotiator Murad Ebrahim told reporters in Cyberjaya, the venue for the talks just outside Kuala Lumpur.
The Malaysian Foreign Ministry, which is hosting the talks, had earlier said a pact would be signed on Monday.
"There is no fixed schedule in the first place. We are still discussing. We continue discussions tomorrow," Ebrahim said, adding he was unsure whether the pact to end nearly 30 years of rebellion on the southern island of Mindanao would be signed during Arroyo's visit.
"We have an agreement in principle, we are working out details of the agreement," Ebrahim said.
His opposite number on the government side said the talks were complex but both sides were pulling together.
"There is a lot of goodwill, a lot of trust and a lot of sincerity," Jesus Dureza, Manila's chief negotiator, said.
If MILF does lay down its arms it will mean the only organized guerrilla movement still fighting in the southern Philippines is the Abu Sayyaf -- a group currently holding 21 hostages including two American missionaries.
The ceasefire was agreed by the government and the MILF at talks in Libya in June, and negotiations resumed in Malaysia late last month but skirmishes continue.
The Philippine military accused the MILF of killing an army officer and wounding four others in the Mindanao province of North Cotabato on Monday.
Colonel Danilo Servando, a spokesman for the military, said in Zamboanga City 25 MILF guerrillas attacked a contingent of soldiers leading to a 30-minute gunbattle.
Dureza said talks were now focused on how to monitor any ceasefire and how to define hostile or provocative acts. "It's not a simple task. We want a ceasefire that really works on the ground," Dureza said.
Once the ceasefire is in place the two sides will work towards a final peace agreement.
A previous ceasefire between the government and MILF had held from 1997 to 2000, until Arroyo's predecessor, Joseph Estrada, decided the rebels were consolidating their position and ordered a fresh offensive.
Last week, the MILF and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) agreed to reunite, bringing together the two main Muslim separatist groups in the mostly Roman Catholic country. The two split in 1978.
The MNLF has already struck a peace deal with the Philippine government.
In an interview with the Malaysian New Straits Times on Monday, Arroyo said she did not expect the unification of the Mindanao rebels to help Manila's efforts to combat the self- styled Abu Sayyaf.
The Abu Sayyaf, who operate from the small southern island of Basilan, have made a business out of kidnapping foreigners and Filipinos.
Arroyo said she was undeterred in the fight against the Abu Sayyaf after they beheaded 10 villagers last Thursday.
In another development, Arroyo has described Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad as her "model of a leader" ahead of a visit here, a report said on Monday.
Arroyo, who will arrive on Tuesday on her first overseas foray since taking office in January, praised Mahathir's stand against currency speculators and Malaysia's efforts to forge peace in southern Philippines, the New Straits Times said.
"He is my model of a leader... my main reason to visit Kuala Lumpur is to convey my government's gratitude to (Mahathir) for Malaysia's efforts in promoting peace and development in Mindanao," she was quoted as telling the newspaper in an interview.
The Philippines would invite Malaysian businessmen to invest in oil palm cultivation in Mindanao, she added.
Predominantly-Muslim Malaysia is hosting talks between Manila and the separatist MILF