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Manila tries to break deadlock with MILF on negotiations
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 2006-04-22 |
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