Talks with rebels may resume July 1: RP

Talks with rebels may resume July 1: RP

Agencies, Manila/Putra Jaya, Malaysia

The Philippines said on Thursday it may resume peace talks with
Moro rebels by July 1 but warned their hoarding of explosives
could imperil efforts to end three decades of violence that has
killed at least 125,000 people.

Foreign Secretary Blas Ople said the military might match a
24-day-old cease-fire by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)
in support of the negotiations to be held in Malaysia, which will
reprise its role as broker between Manila and the rebels.

President Gloria Arroyo challenged the rebels to name the
source of the explosives, identify the intended targets and
clarify whether foreigners were involved in smuggling them in.

Arroyo said soldiers seized two huge caches of bomb-making
ingredients in MILF-controlled areas of Mindanao in recent days,
including piles of C-4 plastic explosive "larger than the entire
C-4 inventory of the armed forces".

"Whether the peace process will move forward or lag behind is
largely in the hands of the MILF," she told reporters. "We are
preparing for the start of peace talks but this does not mean we
are being tactically blind to events."

The United States, a key ally of the Philippines that has
given funding and training for counter-terrorism operations, will
play "a consultative role" in the peace process, Ople said.

The last round of formal talks between Manila and the MILF,
the largest group fighting for an Islamic homeland in the south
of the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic nation, broke down in 2001.

Ople said Malaysia would have the "central role of
facilitating and mediating the talks" -- the same part it played
in previous rounds of peace negotiations.

"The talks are supposed to resume in Kuala Lumpur, if possible
before July 1," Ople told reporters after attending a meeting on
security issues chaired by Arroyo. "The cease-fire ought to be in
place on or about that date."

Malaysia has not yet decided whether to send a cease-fire
observer team to the Philippines as requested by Arroyo, the
foreign minister said on Thursday.

Syed Hamid Albar said the Philippines had asked Malaysia to
take the lead in sending a team to monitor a cease-fire between
MILF and the Philippines.

"I will be responding to the Philippines request once I get
the mandate from the government," he said. He declined to reveal
when the government would make an announcement.