Talks with Moro rebels off to good start: Ramos
Talks with Moro rebels off to good start: Ramos
MANILA (AFP): President Fidel Ramos said yesterday that peace talks with Moro rebels were "off to an auspicious start" in Jakarta, voicing confidence progress could be made in settling crucial issues before the weekend.
But the Philippine president hedged when asked in a news conference if he hoped an agreement would be finally signed after more than two years of talks, saying: "Let's just hope for the best."
He said Manila's chief negotiator, Manuel Yan, informed him that the talks were "off to an auspicious start" and that he was confident that "forward momentum will be gained as the plenary session ensues within the week."
Ramos, a retired general, also defended the beefing up of military forces in southern Mindanao island ahead of the talks, saying it was done to prevent radical groups from sabotaging the negotiations.
Talks between Manila and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) began Monday in Jakarta and are to last until tomorrow under the supervision of the influential Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).
Indonesia, which has the world's largest Moslem population, chairs the OIC executive committee.
The negotiations are aimed at hammering out an accord that would give autonomy to this largely Roman Catholic nation's six- million strong Moslem minority, most of whom live in Mindanao, which they claim as their ancestral homeland.
He said "certain quarters" have "misunderstood" the troop build-up in Mindanao by saying it could affect the atmosphere of the talks, an apparent reference to MNLF chairman Nur Misuari, who mentioned the troop build-up in Mindanao during a speech Monday in Jakarta.
"We're doing our best to preserve the peace against those who are wont to derail it for their selfish, if not irrational, ends," Ramos said, assuring that "nothing in our actions is directed at the MNLF."
A bomb blast rocked the office of a shipping firm in southern Zamboanga province on Monday and armed men hurled three grenades at a bus terminal in nearby Kabakan town, in North Cotabato province on Tuesday, killing a boy and wounding 22 others.
On Sunday, suspected Moro fundamentalists shot and hacked to death a Christian family of three in Sarangani province.
Ramos dismissed reports that the Kabacan and Zamboanga incidents were the work of Moro fundamentalists as part of a plan to sabotage the talks. He did not comment on the Sarangani killings.
Police and military troops on Mindanao have been on full combat alert since last weekend amid reports that the extremist Abu Sayyaf group and the MNLF splinter faction, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), were planning to attack key cities during the talks.
Although a cease-fire exists between the government and the MNLF, the MILF and the Abu Sayyaf are not covered by the truce.
Government and Moro negotiators have been divided over the boundaries of the new Moro autonomous region. Misuari insists on self-rule for 13 provinces and nine cities in the south, while Manila wants to put the issue to a vote for the benefit of the majority Christian settlers.