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| Southeast Asia |
| Philippines, MILF in last talks |
| 2010-06-04 |
| [Straits Times] THE Philippines government and Muslim rebels on Thursday pledged to continue working towards a peace deal as they ended a final round of talks under President Gloria Arroyo's outgoing administration. Negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest of the country's Muslim rebel groups, will now resume efforts to end decades of conflict under the government of Benigno Aquino, who was elected in May. The two sides said at the conclusion of two-day talks in the Malaysian capital that they would press on with efforts to reach a political settlement. 'The parties met under an atmosphere of cordiality and candor, determined to continue engaging with each other... until they finally conclude and reach a comprehensive compact,' they said in a joint statement. The latest round of talks was aimed at bridging the two phases of negotiations, and cementing a commitment to proceed despite large-scale fighting in 2008 which temporarily derailed the process. One diplomat involved with peace monitoring efforts in the troubled southern Philippines said the government had wanted the MILF to sign a statement 'on the conclusion of talks between both sides' to give an impression of concrete progress before Mrs Arroyo steps down on June 30. However, the MILF has said it will not sign any final peace agreement with Arroyo, preferring instead to wait for presumptive president Aquino to take his oath of office before moving forward. 'We had decided to downgrade our participation in the Malaysia talks this week, because it was only meant to allow Arroyo's negotiators to officially end their negotiation with the MILF,' the diplomat said. 'We were under the impression that the (Philippines government) had wanted to sneak in some provisions in the statement that could mislead the public into believing there was a 'conclusion' of talks between both sides, meaning some agreement had been reached,' he told AFP. 'We have been told the MILF is waiting for the next president to sign a final agreement, although there are uncertainties as yet.' |
| Posted by:Fred |