ZAMBOANGA CITY, 19 August 2004 - An investigation conducted jointly by the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) into reports of a huge rebel arms shipment in Mindanao ended with no evidence found, a spokesman for the separatist group said yesterday.

Eid Kabalu said government and separatist leaders found no proof to back military claims that the MILF have received a huge cache of automatic weapons and ammunition.

He said members of the two Committees on the Cessation of Hostilities, headed by the MILF’s Benjie Midtimbang and Philippine Army’s Brig. Gen. Alexander Yano interviewed villagers and inspected several coastal towns in the provinces of Lanao del Sur and Sultan Kudarat where the weapons allegedly landed, but found no evidence that the shipment actually took place.

“There were no arms shipment and the MILF received no weapons at all. The reports are simply false and baseless,” Kabalu told Arab News.

News reports said the rebels received a large shipment of weapons that prompted security officials and politicians to call into question their sincerity about peace talks with the government.

Reports said two arms shipment were delivered last month and that three more were expected to arrive. The reports said the MILF received 1,190 automatic rifles and hundreds of thousands of ammunition rounds in two shipments that arrived on July 24 in Sultan Kudarat’s Palimbang town and in Kapatagan town in nearby Lanao del Sur.

Reports further said that the rebels were trying to acquire more weapons, that included heavy machineguns and mortars.

“But all these reports turned out to be false. We have invited the Philippine government to investigate these reports and we have proven that all these information are wrong,” Kabalu said.

Security officials were not immediately available to make a statement. Manila is currently negotiating peace with the MILF, the country’s largest separatist rebel group fighting for the establishment of a Muslim state in the south.

The MILF earlier said it would resume peace talks with the Filipino government this week in Malaysia, which is hosting the negotiations.