ZAMBOANGA CITY, 20 September 2006 — Government negotiators yesterday scrambled to break the deadlock in peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the southern Philippines as the separatist group warned of renewed fighting.
Jesus Dureza, the government’s peace adviser, said he has sought an urgent meeting with MILF leaders to to find a way to get the talks back on track.
MILF Chairman Murad Ebrahim earlier warned of a possible collapse of the talks because of what he described as the government’s dilly-dallying on the issue of ancestral domain.
During a press conference in the MILF’s main base in Maguindanao yesterday, the group’s chief negotiator, Mohagher Iqbal, said they were prepared for war if the issue on ancestral domain would remain unresolved.
“We can afford to go to war. Especially now the government is in a hurry and it is setting aside what we have agreed before,” said Iqbal, who explained that Iqbal said they were technically still at war with the government because the problem of Bangsamoro in Mindanao remains unsolved.
“The government is duplicating what they did with the Moro National Liberation Front. Instead of addressing the root cause of the problem, they are on parallel negotiations,” Iqbal said.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu, interviewed by local media in Davao City, said the future success or failure of the talks was in government’s hands.
Kabalu said as far as the MILF is concerned, the only way the peace process can be saved is through government proof of sincerity. “We were worrying that the government’s stance could result to the failure of the talks and now we are seeing it happen,” Kabalu said.
Dureza would not elaborate further but another government official confirmed the government was trying to reach Murad, although “no official statements can be made until after both sides meet.”
The 12,000-strong MILF wants 1,000 parcels of land on the southern island of Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago set aside as the sole domain of the minority Muslims.
But the government says it can only give 600 parcels, and that will be subject to Congressional approval.
Earlier, government chief negotiator Silvestre Afable Jr. said the rebels’ demand was unconstitutional and unacceptable but the government would continue to propose options to break the impasse.
Murad said the government was making a conditional offer that “no revolutionary group worthy of its name can accept.”
Murad urged the government to “sacrifice some of its so-called national interests” for lasting peace. Even then, spokesman Kabalu said yesterday that communication lines remained open between the two sides.
He said Murad’s statement was borne out frustration over the “ancestral domain” deadlock, and was meant to force the government to soften its stand.
While the MILF does not want to return to an “all-out war” with the government, it will “address the demands of the Muslims in the south,” Kabalu said. Both parties earlier agreed to share economic resources but the main stumbling block has been the mapping out and division of land to be included in the ancestral domain claim. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo engaged the MILF in talks shortly after assuming power through a military-backed popular revolt in 2001.
A truce was signed and the MILF agreed to help Manila in its anti-terrorism drive, publicly disowning links with the Al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).
If talks are scuttled, it would setback development of the impoverished Muslim areas in the southern Philippines. The US government has said it would only release millions of dollars in development aid for Mindanao if a final accord is signed.
Fighting in Jolo
In the southern island of Jolo, a military spokesman said a Marine lieutenant was killed and 24 soldiers were wounded when security forces clashed with about 100 Abu Sayyaf in mountains near Maimbung and Patikul towns in the island of Jolo on Monday.
Since Aug. 1, about 20 soldiers and police officers have been killed and 80 wounded in the offensive
More than 6,000 soldiers, backed by US intelligence and equipment, are fighting on the island of Jolo in the south to flush out about 200 Abu Sayyaf militants holed up in the interior.
The Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for the worst militant attack in the Philippines, a 2004 bombing of a ferry near Manila that killed more than 100 people.
Four Jemaah Islamiayah militants, including two suspects in the 2002 Bali bombings, are also believed in hiding with the Abu Sayyaf on Jolo.
“We must stand fast and take the fight with them to their lairs and sanctuaries,” Arroyo said in a discussion with cabinet officials aired live on national television and radio.
“Terrorist leaders and their cohorts are falling one by one. We are on the verge of wiping out the notorious Abu Sayyaf group permanently.” The Abu Sayyaf, known for kidnap and ransom, has long been based on the islands of the Sulu Sea, which lies between the southern Philippines and eastern Malaysia.
Several operations launched by the military, especially on the larger islands of Jolo and Basilan, have failed to curb the group as the rebels easily find sanctuary in interior villages. An estimated 50 rebels have also been killed but less than a dozen bodies have been recovered. (With reports from Inquirer News Service & Agencies)
