MAGUINDANAO, 29 May 2005 — Moro Islamic Libera-tion Front (MILF) forces have stepped up security yesterday near a major rebel base in the southern Philippine province of Maguindanao as thousands of members and supporters converged for a three-day plenum that will start today.

Uniformed rebels in charge of security put up their own checkpoint near an army roadblock in the town of Sultan Kudarat near the MILF’s Camp Darapanan, stopping civilian vehicles and searching for weapons and explosives. The security officers said they have orders to seize illegal weapons from civilians or other MILF members.

“MILF members and civilians who are attending the plenum are not allowed to bring their weapons and we have orders to seize them. We don’t want any incident that may sabotage this plenum,” one rebel security officer told Arab News.

Officials from the both the MILF and the government said they wanted to make sure that saboteurs would not disrupt the peace process.

The government insists that the MILF has been infiltrated by militants belonging or sympathetic to the terrorist Jemaah Islamiyah, blamed for deadly bombings in Indonesia and the Philippines.

The MILF has denied harboring militants and said it was all for a peaceful settlement of conflict in the southern Philippines.

MILF chairman Murad Ebrahim is to address the gathering which starts today and brief the rebels on the group’s peace talks with the government.

Filipino Muslims, many of whom have lived with violence all their lives, are pinning hopes on the talks bringing a lasting peace.

“As of now, they are still hopeful, they would like to see a brighter future,” Baicon Macaraya, executive director of the Bangsamoro Ranao Center for Peace and Development told ABS-CBN television. “They are very watchful of any movement from the government or the MILF side.”

Eid Kabalu, the group’s spokesman, said the gathering is very important for it will allow the MILF leadership to explain to its members what is going on in the peace negotiations. “This is collective and consultative peace negotiation that will involve every Muslims and the Indigenous people in the southern Philippines," he said.

"The peace negotiations with the Arroyo government is about to end and there will be a new dawn for us, peace is almost here for us,” Kabalu said.

At the entrance to Camp Darapanan, where a streamer welcoming former Indonesian leader Abdulrahman Wahid is prominently displayed.

Wahid and over a dozen Arab diplomats are invited in the affairs, the biggest in the MILF’s history since it was formed in 1978, said Kabalu.