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| Southeast Asia |
| Filippinos warn of MILF attacks as peace processor resumes |
| 2005-02-02 |
| Silvestre Afable, the government's chief peace negotiator, warned on Wednesday that hard-core militants may step up attacks in Mindanao to try to sabotage talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Afable, who is also communications director for President Arroyo, said informal talks hosted by Malaysia would resume in the next few days despite clashes last month that tested a truce in place since July 2003. "We feel that as the peace talks move forward and any substantive success is gained, the more we face the risk of extremists who would want to derail the negotiations," Afable told a briefing for foreign media in Manila. "Terrorism is one of the challenges we are facing -- not only as a threat to law and order but as a threat to peace in Mindanao." He said the regional militant network Jema'ah Islamiyah (JI) and other groups, working with small factions of local rebels, opposed the talks between the MILF and the government. While the MILF leadership insists its ranks are solid in the march towards peace, security analysts also see risks that some rebels will break away as a deal draws nearer. The rebels deny any formal ties to the al Qaeda-linked JI, blamed for the Bali bombings in October 2002 and other attacks in the region. But analysts say personal connections remain strong between some MILF commanders and the foreign militants. A peace settlement with the 11,000-member MILF would help to counter security concerns among foreign investors and stimulate development of the resource-rich southern Philippines. The informal talks in Malaysia are designed to tackle issues such as ancestral land, security and rehabilitation of conflict areas before a formal deal is signed to end a 35-year separatist insurgency that has claimed 120,000 lives. Afable said the upcoming meeting in Kuala Lumpur would focus on the agenda of setting aside land for at least four million Muslims from 13 tribal groups in the southern Philippines. Some local companies and individual property owners, many of them Christians, oppose the idea of giving up their land. The government and the MILF agreed on the cease-fire and rehabilitation during previous sessions. Plans for projects and funding are being drawn up with help from the World Bank. The Philippines began negotiating with the MILF in 1997 after signing a peace deal with the more secular Moro National Liberation Front in September 1996. But the talks bogged down after soldiers attacked and occupied the MILF's main base in Camp Abubakar in July 2000. Arroyo restarted the peace process after she took office in early 2001, inviting Malaysia -- a mainly Muslim nation -- to broker the talks. A 17-month cease-fire was technically broken in January when a band of rogue rebels attacked an army outpost and the military bombed what it said was a hideout used by the renegades. The government and the MILF have said the clashes would not derail the talks, which had earlier been expected to resume on February 1. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #3 Jeff, I think the Moro's got the acronym first... they've been rebelling since the 1940s - at least! The pr0n crowd only picked it up a couple years ago, IIRC. |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2005-02-02 1:59:26 PM |
| #2 This is stupid. Obviosly the 'MILF' is in no position to impose any agreed upon pease upon it's followers. They can't even enforce a cease fire. The Arroyo administration must understand this - I dont think they are *that* stupid. The 'Peace Process' is just a means for the MILF to rearm and the Arroyo administratio to 'look' like they are doing something. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-02-02 12:12:56 PM |
| #1 "MILF"? I think that acronym is already taken... |
| Posted by: Jeff 2005-02-02 12:08:59 PM |