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| Southeast Asia |
| Malaysia sez MILF holding up peace talks |
| 2004-09-01 |
| Talks to end a 30-year Moro rebellion in Mindanao could face fresh delays, with the main rebel group yet to approve guidelines for deploying foreign peace monitors, a Malaysian diplomat said Tuesday. Malaysia, which has been brokering talks since 2001 to end the conflict in Mindanao, has put together an international team of peace monitors to prevent government troops and rebels from breaking a year-long truce. "We're still waiting for the terms of reference from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)," Mahinder Singh, a senior official at the Malaysian embassy, told reporters in Manila. The terms of reference are guidelines regulating the role of peace monitors in Mindanao. The deployment of foreign peace monitors is one of three preconditions set by the MILF before formal talks resume to end the rebellion that has claimed over 120,000 lives since the 1970s. Talks have been on hold for nearly three years. The government has already pulled troops out of Buliok, a rebel enclave it captured last year, and agreed to drop murder cases against 185 MILF leaders in connection with two bomb attacks in Davao City that killed 38 last year. Apart from Malaysia, only Brunei has committed troops to a 60-member team from Muslim countries to monitor a fragile cease-fire between government troops and MILF rebels in five areas in Mindanao. Malaysia is still awaiting word from Bahrain, Indonesia, Libya and Saudi Arabia. Both government and rebel leaders have agreed talks should begin before October 15 when the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins. Eid Kabalu, spokesman for MILF, said the rebel group had sent its own version of the guidelines to Kuala Lumpur more than a week ago. "We are ready for the talks," he said. "We did our own homework and are waiting for Malaysia to schedule the talks." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |