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By Al Jacinto, Correspondent
ZAMBOANGA CITY: The
Philippines’ largest Muslim rebel group, Moro
Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), praised Britain for its offer to
send experts to help in peace negotiations across the strife-torn
region of Mindanao.
The MILF is currently negotiating
peace with Manila, but talks had been stalled since last year after
demands for territories in Mindanao, the country’s second largest
island and home to more than four million Muslims and over 17
million mostly Christians.
It is said that the Philippine
peace panel headed by Rodolfo Garcia agreed on the scope of the
Muslim ancestral domain, but later reneged on the accord that will
constitute a separate homeland for Muslims and at least 18
indigenous tribes in Mindanao.
The ancestral domain is the
single most important issue in the peace negotiations before the
rebel group can reach a political settlement and with the talks
stalled, the hope of ending more than three decades of bloody
hostilities remains dim.
Many rebel commanders are getting
frustrated and restless over the failure of the seven-year old peace
talks with the Arroyo government.
British ambassador Peter
Beckingham said three or four of the experts who were involved in
peace talks in Northern Ireland are arriving soon in the Philippines
to help re-start the stalled peace talks.
The British also launched a
two-year, P14-million leadership training program in the Philippines
to develop Islamic leaders who will actively work in reforming
education and governance, among others, in a bid to help counter
radicalism.
“This is good news. It is a
positive development and we hope the British experts will arrive
very soon so we can meet with them and discuss the peace process in
Mindanao. We welcome the British support to the peace process and we
appreciate it very much,” Eid Kabalu, a spokesman of the MILF,
told The Manila Times.
Malaysia, which is brokering the
peace talks, said it would pull out its cease-fire observers
deployed in Mindanao if there is no progress in the negotiations.
Kabalu said the pullout of the
Malaysia-led International Monitoring team (IMT) will put the
cease-fire agreement and the peace talks at risk because Filipino
troops in the past had always encroached in so-called MILF
territories sparking sporadic clashes that often lead to bigger
clashes in central Mindanao.
Since the IMT arrived, fighting
between security and rebel forces drastically decreased from 698
armed clashes in 2004 to only 7 incidents last year.
The IMT is composed of at least
41 officers from the Malaysian Defense Forces, the Royal Malaysia
Police, and the Prime Minister’s Department and is also supported
by 10 military officers from Brunei Darussalam and five from Libya.
Canada and Japan also have members on the team.
The MILF has repeatedly urged
Manila to resume the stalled talks, but either it had been ignored
or was overtaken by corruption scandals in the government and
anti-Arroyo protests in Manila.
Murad Ebrahim, MILF chieftain,
also appealed to rebel forces and supporters for patience over the
failure of peace talks with Manila.
“The road to freedom is always
full of twists and turns and to overcome, we must work, persist, and
sacrifice,” Ebrahim said.
It was the second time the MILF
appealed to Muslims and rebels for patience over the slow progress
of the peace talks. Mohagher Iqbal, chief MILF peace negotiator,
also appealed to Muslims to remain calm and patient over the failure
of the talks.
Iqbal said the ugly turn of
events in the peace process is taxing the patience of the MILF and
the Muslims, who may be compelled to resort to other means of
resolving the Mindanao conflict when they are pushed to the wall and
become hopeless in the peace process.
President Gloria Arroyo has
opened up peace talks with the MILF in 2001, but since then no
substantial agreements have been signed between the two sides,
except for the cease-fire accord.
The MILF ancestral domain covers
the whole of Muslim autonomous region and other areas in Zamboanga
del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, North Cotabato,
Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani provinces where there are large
communities of Muslims and indigenous tribes. Even Palawan Island in
central Philippines and the Sulu Archipelago are covered.
The Philippine military
previously demanded MILF rebels to lay down their weapons before
peace talks could resume.
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