ZAMBOANGA CITY , 24 October 2007 — The Philippines’ largest Muslim separatist group resumed negotiations yesterday with government representatives, with a warning that another failure to make a breakthrough could lead to renewed hostilities.
“The issue on ancestral domain must be resolved first before we can resume formal peace talks. We cannot have perpetual peace negotiations,” Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) spokesman Eid Kabalu told Arab News by phone.
He also warned that the prevailing truce between government and MILF forces would be difficult to maintain if no political settlement is seen to be forthcoming.
“We want to resolve this problem. The peace talks have been stalled since last year and we cannot have a perpetual cease-fire. A cease-fire without any political settlement is not a guarantee that there is peace. Muslims need real peace,” Kabalu added.
Talks are being held in Malaysia, which is brokering the Philippines’ effort to reach a peaceful end to decades of fighting in the country’s south.
Malaysians also form the bulk of an International Monitoring Team (IMT) organized in 2004 to oversee the cease-fire forged between Manila and the MILF. The other members of the team are from Brunei Darussalam, Libya and Japan.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said Malaysia wanted progress in the seven-year-old peace talks.
Malaysia, an influential member of the Organization of Islamic Conference, has expressed impatience over the oft-postponed talks and warned that it would pull out its contingent from the IMT.
Peace talks were last held in September last year after both sides failed to agree on the issue of ancestral domain, the territory that will constitute a Muslim homeland.
“Without real peace, exploitation by political warlords and big corporations and influential businessmen will continue, leaving more Muslims without lands of their own, without natural resources to call their own and no decent livelihood for everyone,” Kabalu said.
The MILF wants the ancestral domain to cover the whole of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao and areas in the provinces of Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and Palawa where there are large communities of Muslims and indigenous tribes.
The ARMM is composed of the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sharif Kabunsuan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
