ZAMBOANGA CITY, 4 July 2003 — The United States has asked the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to resume their stalled peace and end more than three decades of fighting, a separatist official said yesterday.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said the US State Department, in a letter sent to the rebel leader Salamat Hashim, has expressed support to the resumption of the peace talks.

“The US has made it clear that they want an end to hostilities in the southern Philippines and for the peace talks between us and the Arroyo government to resume. They also expressed strong support to the peace process,” Kabalu said.

He said the letter was sent last week to Salamat through a US emissary, but he declined to further elaborate on the contents of the letter.

Kabalu did not give other details about the letter, but said it was a reply from the letter sent in May by Salamat to President George W. Bush signifying the rebel leader’s commitment to a peaceful resolution of the Muslim secessionist problems in the southern Philippines.

Chief government negotiator Eduardo Ermita has confirmed the existence of the letter.

“There was a response from the US State Department. But as to the contents of the letter, I do not have any idea. I still have to read it,” Ermita was quoted as saying in Manila.

Washington was reported to have expressed interest in brokering peace talks between the Philippine government and the MILF, the country’s largest separatist Muslim rebel group fighting for independence in Mindanao.

Reports said that US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia, Matthew Daley, has conveyed this to Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople in a meeting at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in May.

Ople was earlier quoted as saying in Manila that the United States would seek an opportunity to talk to the MILF if there is a window open to them and to offer the rebels certain incentives if they choose the path of peace and cooperation with the Arroyo government.

Washington explained, however, that it did not want to supplant Malaysia, which is currently brokering peace negotiations between Manila and the MILF.