ZAMBOANGA CITY, 16 August 2004 — The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) yesterday said it will hold its biggest ever assembly of rebel forces since 1977 for an orientation on the ongoing peace talks with the Philippine government.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said about 70,000 members and supporters of the separatist group in the southern Philippines are expected to take part in the massive campaign starting next month to educate them about the peace process, including an orientation on the articles of the Geneva Convention.
“We want to educate our combatants about the peace process and the progress of the peace talks between the MILF and the Philippine government and other important matters, such as the Geneva Convention, among others,” he told Arab News.
Kabalu said it would be the biggest since the MILF was organized in 1977 after its founder Salamat Hashim broke ties with the main rebel group Moro National Liberation Front (MILF). Hashim died of disease and old age two years ago inside a rebel camp in the south. His deputy, Murad Ebrahim, took over as chairman.
Kabalu said members of the MILF peace panel will conduct the briefing 9 different jungle camps across the southern Philippines.
“This historic and important undertaking is a sincere gesture of the MILF and it would further strengthen the peace process. We want our members to understand more the importance of peace in Mindanao and we also want the Philippine government and everybody to know that the MILF is really sincere in the peace talks,” Kabalu said.
Negotiators from both sides are to begin a new round of peace talks this week in Kuala Lumpur. “We look forward for a cordial meeting and we hope to sign new agreements to further hasten the peace process and end the hostilities in Mindanao,” Kabalu said.
The Philippines signed a cease-fire agreement in 2002 with the MILF, the country’s largest separatist Muslim rebels in the southern regio.
Kabalu said his group will discuss the total withdrawal of government soldiers in the Buliok mountain complex near Maguindanao province, which is home to thousands of rebels and Muslim civilians supporting the MILF.
Aside from the military pullout, Kabalu said the MILF will demand the dropping of criminal charges against rebel leaders and more than 100 others in connection with the bombings in 2002 of an airport and a wharf in the southern port city of Davao where dozens of civilians were killed.
Kabalu said government negotiators had agreed early this year to withdraw military forces in Buliok and to drop all the criminal charges, but Kabalu accused Manila of ignoring the agreement.
Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita and the military have accused the MILF of coddling Jemaah islamiyah militants, an Indonesia-based group blamed for a string of attacks and bombings across Indonesia and the Philippines since 2001.
