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Manila, MILF Sign Truce, Resume Talks
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Arroyo
gestures as she addresses the convention of local officials of Mindanao
Friday, in Manila where she announces the cease-fire deal with the MILF
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By
Kazi Mahmood, Southeast Asia correspondent
Kuala
Lumpur, July 18 (IslamOnline.Net) - Muslim
rebels fighting for a separate Islamic state in southern Philippines
signed a peace truce with Manila on Friday, July 18, after the
government of President Gloria Arroyo dropped arrest orders against
the rebel movement’s leaders.
Arroyo
on Friday agreed to a truce with the Philippines' largest Muslim
guerrilla group ahead of negotiations in neighboring Malaysia to
settle the decades-old separatist rebellion in the south, Agence
France-Presse (AFP) said.
"Today
the peace panels of our government and the MILF (Moro Islamic
Liberation Front) agreed on a mutual cessation of hostilities,"
Arroyo said in a statement. "Peace is at hand."
Manila
is to issue safe conduct passes to the MILF negotiators, she added
after finally agreeing to terms and conditions imposed by Malaysia for
the resumption of stalled talks.
The
Malaysia-backed peace negotiation is expected to come to a final
accord that will end decades of wars in Mindanao and bring peace and
prosperity to the southern Philippines.
Malaysia
is expected to deploy ceasefire observers to the MILF hotbed of
Mindanao shortly, the president said, thanking Malaysian Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad "for his sincere and abiding
support" to the peace process.
"I
call on the panels to immediately enter in formal talks towards a
final peace agreement," Arroyo added.
Arroyo
also ordered the armed forces to "downgrade our operational
status from punitive operations to active defense,” the AFP
reported.
On
Wednesday, July 16, the MILF informed the press that it met with U.S.
representatives in the Philippines and discussed the peace plan,
saying they were satisfied the U.S. was not intervening in any manner
in such talks.
Foreign
Affairs Secretary Blas Ople said Malaysia, which is hosting the peace
negotiations, will announce the resumptions of the talks anytime next
week after concluding back-channel negotiations recently done with the
Muslim separatist rebels, Abs-Cbn news
reported on Thursday, July 17.
Ople
said he was confident that technical and legal obstacles to the peace
talks will be resolved in the next few days.
“These
technical obstacles pertain to the subsisting warrants of arrests
against ranking MILF officials in connection with a spate of bombings
in Mindanao and arrangements for a cease-fire on the ground,” he
said.
On
the other hand, Malaysian Ambassador to Manila Mohammad Noor Taufik
earlier said his country will be put in a dilemma if the Philippines
decide to affect the existing arrest warrants against the MILF leaders
once these people are in Kuala Lumpur for the peace negotiations.
Malaysia
is also prepared to give political asylum to the MILF leaders in case
Manila violates its words that it will not act against the leaders
while peace talks are under way in Putra Jaya.
The
Malaysian government has also sought the inclusion of MILF chairman
Hashim Salamat in the peace panel.
Manila
warned it would abandon talks after a bomb killed three and wounded 26
others earlier this month in the south. But Arroyo has said the
bombing won't deter the government from preparing for negotiations
with rebels unless the group is proven to be involved.
Ople
said the Malaysian government has already agreed to lead the 25-man
monitoring team that will include Islamic countries Libya, Bahrain and
Bangladesh.
The
truce puts a temporary stop to guerrilla attacks by the 12,500-member
MILF on Mindanao. The government earlier said it was optimistic it
could reach a political settlement within 90 days from the start of
formal negotiations.
However,
Ople said he expects the United States, through the Washington-based
Institute for Peace, to support Malaysia in facilitating the talks. He
said the U.S. Congress has allocated $30 million for financial and
diplomatic support to the peace process.
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