COTABATO CITY, 29 March 2003 — Manila’s call on the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to declare a unilateral cease-fire is a “big anomaly and unacceptable,” the separatist group said yesterday.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said the call should have addressed the call to the government and the military.

“In the first place, the MILF has never asked for the resumption of the peace talks,” Kabalu said in reaction to a statement by Secretary Eduardo Ermita, President Arroyo’s adviser on the peace process,

The MILF pulled out of the peace talks last month after the military overran its main base in North Cotabato province.

It then prohibited any member of the MILF Central Committee to make contact with the government either directly or indirectly relative to the peace process.

Kabalu said the prohibition covered the MILF Peace Panel headed by Al-Haj Murad Ebrahim, the Front’s vice chairman for military affairs.

Should the government desire to resume the peace talks, it should course its request through the Malaysian government, the MILF said.

With the help of Malaysia and the Libyan ambassador to Manila, negotiators from both sides resumed the talks in Kuala Lumpur yesterday and government representatives said they moved closer to reviving a stalled peace process.

Jesus Dureza, who is leading a four-member government peace panel, said the meeting with three MILF representatives to resume negotiations went well despite recent unrest.

“There is earnest effort on both sides to have peace in Mindanao,” he told reporters, but said further details would be issued in a joint statement today.

The MILF panel, led by lawyer Lanang Ali, could not be reached for comment.

Dureza on Thursday said the fact that other armed groups and “terror elements” were operating in areas dominated by the MILF in the Southern Philippines, including on the island of Mindanao, complicated the negotiations.

He said it would be a long road towards a peace pact as they would have to address other issues such as tackling the root cause of the rebellion, improving the livelihood of the people and social inequities.

Malaysia has long hosted formal negotiations between Manila and the 12,500-strong MILF, which has been waging a 25-year insurgency to establish an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines.

Kabalu had earlier said that the MILF expected the government to present its proposal to resume formal peace talks but warned against hopes for an early peace.

Kabalu said the key steps to resumption of peace negotiations does not lies on the unilateral declaration of a cease-fire b y the MILF.

He recalled that a cease-fire agreement had been in effect but disregarded by the military when they launched their Eid Al-Adha offensive on Feb. 11.

He said the government should show its sincerity and commitment by the pulling out its troops from the MILF areas and go back to their position prior to the Feb. 11 Pikit offensive.

“The process is also known as ‘disengagement’ of troops if only to have a much reliable and durable troops arrangement on the ground, afterwards both parties may impose a stop firing scheme,” Kabalu said.