Wahid arranging talks with Moro: Estrada

Wahid arranging talks with Moro: Estrada

MANILA (AP): Indonesia's president has contacted a Moro rebel leader and is arranging talks between him and Philippine President Joseph Estrada, Estrada said on Monday.

Estrada said Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid offered last week at a summit of Asian Rim leaders in Brunei to serve as a go-between in arranging talks between the Philippine president and Salamat Hashim, head of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Estrada said he received a telephone call on Monday saying Abdurrahman had already contacted Salamat and that a meeting was being arranged.

A meeting between Estrada and Salamat would give a significant political boost to Estrada, who is facing an impeachment trial on charges he pocketed millions of dollars in payoffs from illegal gambling operators and from tobacco taxes.

Estrada suspended peace talks with the MILF in June after it refused to abandon its secessionist goal and its armed struggle.

Estrada's government launched an offensive to overrun MILF camps in the southern Mindanao region earlier this year, prompting Salamat to declare a jihad or holy war against the government.

Since then, rebel attacks on government forces and targets have increased and Estrada's government has sought to restart the peace talks.

Many guerrillas have also surrendered to accept amnesty from the government. In the latest surrenders, an MILF commander and 16 of his followers surrendered Saturday to military officers in southern Lanao del Sur province, army spokesman Col. Hilario Atendido said.

The MILF is the larger of two groups fighting for an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines. The other, the Abu Sayyaf, is holding an American and a Filipino hostage in the southern Philippines.

Indonesia earlier helped broker peace talks between the Philippine government and another Muslim rebel group, the Moro National Liberation Front, that led to a peace agreement in 1996.