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| Southeast Asia | |
| Philippine communists reject Christmas truce | |
| 2005-12-22 | |
| MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine communist rebels said on Thursday they will not observe the traditional Christmas ceasefire and step up attacks in the countryside. "We don't see any basis to declare a ceasefire," rebel spokesman Gregorio Rosal said in a mobile phone text message sent to reporters. "This is in response to the relentless attacks being waged by government forces against the unarmed civilians and abuse of the peace negotiations." Philippine security forces say they want a shorter than usual truce with the 8,000-member Maoist-led New People's Army (NPA) over the holidays due to concerns about increased violence in the countryside. They have suggested one-day ceasefires on December 25 and on January 1, but President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has to announce whether her government will declare a unilateral truce. Rosal said about 110 leftist activists, including journalists and human rights lawyers, had been killed since March this year. Four members of a non-governmental organization in the central Luzon area were added to the list last week. Since 1986, the government has declared a holiday ceasefire with communist and Muslim rebels as the mainly Roman Catholic country marks one of the longest yuletide seasons in the world. The Christmas season in the Philippines, celebrated with family reunions and parties, starts with dawn masses on December 16 and ends at the feast of Epiphany on January 6. The NPA, active in 69 of 79 provinces, usually limits attacks to the countryside, targeting officials it deems to be corrupt and businesses which refuse to pay "revolutionary war taxes."
Peace negotiations with the communist rebels, brokered by Norway, have been stalled since August 2004 when Manila declined to help persuade the United States from dropping the rebel movement from its terror blacklist. | |
| Posted by:Steve |