KUALA LUMPUR, 30 July — Philippine government negotiators and Moro separatists who are engaged in a peace negotiation in Malaysia are expected to issue a communiqué on security arrangements, a senior official said Sunday.
Maulana Alonto, media officer of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) told AFP that a technical panel from the two sides were ironing out the mechanism to stop hostilities in the southern island of Mindanao.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said that been no substantial progress in the peace talks so far. He said that the MILF Peace Panel insisted on the implementation of all past agreements signed by both sides, including the positioning of troops, and also pressed for the coming in observers and monitors from the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).
The MILF demanded the resolution of these issues before the panels could move forward and talk about other substance of the agreement, such as the rehabilitation of evacuees and economic development program in the area affected by the war in Mindanao; and, the ancestral domain aspect.
The government panel, on the other hand, appeared to be more interested on a new cease-fire agreement. “We are now studying the counter proposals about security to end the hostilities. Each group has submitted their new proposals.
“Hopefully, we can resolve the differences today (Sunday). I’m crossing my fingers. It looks positive,” Maulana told AFP. He declined to elaborate.
Maulana said each team had submitted counter proposals related to the ground rules to stop hostilities between the rebels and the Philippines armed forces.
The MILF has been waging a 23-year rebellion to establish an independent Islamic state in the south. It has signed a cease-fire pact with Manila and a new round of peace negotiations hosted by Malaysia.
The two teams began peace talks on July 24 at a beachfront hotel in Port Dickson town, south of Kuala Lumpur. They are due to meet until Aug. 3.
Maulana described the negotiations in Kuala Lumpur as cordial and “we communicate well.” Indonesia, Malaysia and Libya have agreed to send observers to monitor the cease-fire agreed in Tripoli five weeks ago.
