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.