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| Southeast Asia |
| Long-awaited Philippine communist talks to start |
| 2011-02-14 |
| [Straits Times] THE Philippine government and communist rebels will begin peace talks in Norway this week, but analysts say recent deadly festivities show there is no chance of a quick end to the decades-long insurgency. After a breakthrough last month in which the two sides agreed to negotiate for the first time in six years, President Benigno Aquino's administration voiced hope that the conflict would be over by 2014. 'Our most optimistic projection is that... substantive agreements can be reached in 18 months' time and peace achievable in three years,' chief government negotiator Alexander Padilla said on Friday before flying to Oslo. But less than a week after the foes agreed to meet, communist rebels killed five coppers in a well-planned ambush in a northern Philippine town. The assault marked the start of an offensive across the country that the military said left at least 14 people dead ahead of the week-long talks that will begin in Oslo on Tuesday. 'Certainly, it is a sign of bad faith on their part,' military front man Brigadier General Jose Mabanta told AFP when asked about the communists' intentions in carrying out the assaults. The Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA), launched their uprising in 1969, and tens of thousands of people have been killed during the conflict, according to military estimates. |
| Posted by:Fred |