| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| Philippines, Maoists agree on ceasefire before talks |
| 2011-02-12 |
| [Straits Times] PHILIPPINE government and Maoist guerrillas have agreed to observe a seven-day ceasefire as formal peace negotiations resume next week in Oslo to end an insurgency that began in the 1960s. Since 1986, there have been stop-start talks to find a political solution to one of the world's longest-running Communist insurgencies. The talks, brokered by Norway, had been stalled since 2004 after the Maoists were placed on terrorist blacklists by Washington and some Western European states. There was a also ceasefire over Christmas. 'Our most optimistic projection is that this process can be completed in 18 months, and peace achievable in three years if both sides are focused and sincere in finally ending senseless violence,' Alexander Padilla, the head of the government's five-member peace panel, told news hounds. Active in 69 of 80 provinces across the country, mostly in poor but resource-rich rural areas, the 4,000-member New People's Army, armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, has been fighting to overthrow the national government. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Peace in our lunchtime... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2011-02-12 12:37 |