RP to hold preliminary talks with Moro group
RP to hold preliminary talks with Moro group
MANILA (AFP): The Philippines yesterday announced preliminary talks next week with an insurgent Moro group while ordering a military offensive against a second guerrilla faction accused of banditry.
Chief government negotiator Fortunato Abat said separate technical committees from Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will meet Tuesday in the southern town of Sultan Kudarat, one to set an agenda for formal talks and the other to lay the groundwork for a cease fire.
The MILF was left out of a peace deal last year between the government and the larger Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), ending a 24-year armed struggle for a separate Moslem state in the main southern island of Mindanao.
In exchange, the Philippine government granted the MNLF wide- ranging regional autonomy and pledged massive development funds for the neglected southern region.
"This meeting (with the MILF) ... is in pursuit of the president's (Fidel Ramos') peace and development program for the entire country, especially in Mindanao," retired army general Abat said.
He hoped that formal talks "will pave the way for the achievement of a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in the area."
Meanwhile, the southern Philippines military command said in the city of Zamboanga yesterday that it was launching an offensive against another Moslem rebel faction, the Abu Sayyaf, in the southern island of Basilan.
The operation will target Abu Sayyaf units who have been harassing villagers.
The Moslem extremist group murdered four farmers near the town of Lantawan on Christmas Day, and have threatened to kidnap public school teachers, police said.
Armored troop transports were seen moving toward the town yesterday, residents said.
"I would like to see these areas free of Abu Sayyaf before I (retire) from the service," said Lt. Gen. Ruperto Ambil, the southern Philippines military chief who is scheduled to retire later this month.
The peace talks with the MNLF took nearly four years and were brokered by the Organization of the Islamic Conference, a forum of Moslem states.
The MILF, with an estimated 10,000 guerrillas spread out among 13 camps across Mindanao, is seen by analysts as a major threat to the peace pact, which Ramos hopes will attract investors into the region.
The MILF broke away from MNLF in 1977. The Abu Sayyaf, another MNLF offshoot, is believed by the military to have about 200 members.
Fighting between MILF forces and the military last month in Basilan left more than 100 people dead.