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| Southeast Asia |
| Manila tries to break deadlock with MILF on negotiations |
| 2006-04-22 |
| The Philippine government and the country's largest Muslim rebel group will try to break a deadlock over ancestral rights when they resume peace talks next month, an official said on Friday. Talks in March between Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), hosted by Malaysia, ended without settling issues of territory, governance and resources management for a proposed Muslim homeland on the southern island of Mindanao. "The peace process is moving forward at an urgent and deliberate pace," Jesus Dureza, the presidential adviser on the talks, told diplomats and experts from 60 countries attending a counter-terrorism forum in the central Philippines. "Quiet negotiations between the two sides are going on to wrap up talks on the ancestral domain issue. An interim peace agreement on this component is expected to be signed soon." In February, the government and the MILF had said they were confident of striking a deal on ancestral rights by the end of March after agreeing on 30 contentious issues. Dureza said he was sure the remaining issues would be resolved in backroom talks before the two sides returned to Malaysia for more informal meetings in the first week of May. "The comprehensive peace process should not be construed as a direct counter-terrorism strategy," he said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 They need to end the negotiations, put them on the terrorist list, and start hunting and killing the MILF. The last thing this world needs is another terrorist state, let alone one in asia. Folks, the MILF is nothing but a front for terrorism and a Hammas wanna be. Once they have their own land the JI training camps will be turned into military camps for "self defence" and terrorism will flourish. This is a failing of the Philippine government to control and "WE", the rest of the free world, will pay for it in terrorist attacks. We should threaten to blockade the philippines and close all flights from Manila if they don't get real and start to dismantle the MILF. We all want to ignore the PI because of the child like leaders, but this will come back to haunt us all. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2006-04-22 11:18 |