In a new report entitled “The Philippines: A New Strategy for Peace in Mindanao,” the Brussels-based conflict analysts International Crisis Group (ICG) urged President Benigno Aquino to reassure the rebels that reforms in the Muslim autonomous government are not substitutes for peace talks.

“The most concrete proof will be their counter-proposal, which should be provided to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) as promised this month,” the report said.

Negotiators from Manila and the largest Muslim separatist rebel group are scheduled to hold another round of negotiations Aug. 15 to 17 in Kuala Lumpur, where the Aquino government is expected to show its political formula to end the rebellion.

Malaysia has hosted negotiations since 2001 to end a conflict that has killed 120,000 people, displaced 2 million and stunted growth and investment in southern areas believed to hold rich deposits of minerals, oil and natural gas.

As part of the new strategy, Manila has postponed regional elections next week and passed a law to reset the polls to May 2013, allowing the government to implement fiscal reforms in the autonomous Muslim region and dismantle private armies.

At the same time, the government has started working with civil society groups, hoping they can help push rival Muslim rebels forces into one negotiating track.

“The emerging strategy appears to be an attempt to ensure that any future agreement on the territory and powers of an expanded autonomous region would be both legitimate and enforceable,” the ICG report added.

Muslim rebel leaders however are suspicious about the move to postpone regional elections and implement reforms, saying the steps could “supplant and pre-empt negotiations.”

The government has rejected the rebel charges but it also delayed the submission of its counter-proposal to the MILF’s demand to set up a “state within a state” formula to end the conflict.