RP's MILF doubts peace agreement

RP's MILF doubts peace agreement

KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): A leader of the Muslim separatist
rebel group that signed a cease-fire agreement with the
Philippine government last week says that the deal could face
opposition from vested interests in the military and Philippine
congress.

Murad Eibrahim, chief of staff of the Moro Islamic Liberation
Front, was quoted by the Malaysian news agency Bernama as saying
that peace would affect promotions in the armed forces and
politicians who built up their careers with the aid of the long
civil war.

The rebel group signed a Malaysian-brokered cease-fire
agreement with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's government
Tuesday, a major step toward ending decades of fighting in the
southern Philippines.

"If she is sincere in the peace process and negotiations, she
should prevail upon these people," Murad was quoted as saying.

Bernama reported that the interview was conducted in recent
days.

The agreement lays down details of a cease-fire. Further talks
will cover economic development in Muslim regions wrecked during
the years of fighting for independence from the largely Roman
Catholic country.

Murad said that the people in the southern Philippines must
immediately witness the situation on the ground return to normal
and feel secure as a result of the agreement for the cease-fire
to succeed.

"In the past, there are many agreements," Murad was quoted as
saying. "The problem is, they remain on paper. There is no
implementation, so there is no change in the situation of the
people."

The larger Moro National Liberation Front made peace with
Manila in 1996. The agreement with the Islamic Front leaves the
Abu Sayyaf kidnap gang as the last armed Muslim separatists still
fighting.

Abu Sayyaf has raided Malaysia and the Philippines for
hostages, including foreign tourists. The group currently holds
dozens of captives, among them at least two Americans.

Arroyo has refused to negotiate ransom with the group, but
refused at a news conference Thursday to close the door to peace
talks.

In Zamboanga, The southern of Mindanao island, a massive
Christian "no" vote was shaping up on Sunday as they prepared to
hold a plebiscite on expanding a Muslim autonomy zone in the
country's rebellion-racked south.

In polls to be held on Tuesday, millions of Christians and
Muslims on the southern island of Mindanao and adjacent isles
will be asked if they favor joining a five-year-old autonomy area
currently ruled by a former Muslim separatist leader.

Manila set up the autonomy zone in 1996 to try to defuse
demands by Muslim separatists for an Islamic state in the south
of the 85 percent Roman Catholic country.

"I think there will be a massive vote against joining the
ARMM," North Cotabato provincial governor Emmanuel Pinol told
Reuters, referring to the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao.

North Cotabato is among 11 provinces and 14 cities which will
hold the plebiscite. Ten of those provinces and almost all of the
cities are dominated by Christians.