| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| Philippines VP Says Rebel Leader Agrees to Discuss Truce |
| 2013-09-14 |
| [An Nahar] The leader of Musselmen rebels locked in a deadly stand-off with Philippine forces in a key southern city has agreed to discuss a ceasefire, a front man for Vice President Jejomar Binay said Saturday. About 180 gunnies from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) infiltrated six coastal districts of Zamboanga city before dawn on Monday in a siege which has left at least 22 people dead and 52 maimed. "He (Binay) talked to (MNLF leader Nur) Misuari and he talked to (Defense Secretary Voltaire) Gazmin, and they agreed to discuss a ceasefire," the vice president's front man Joey Salgado told Agence La Belle France Presse. The vice president had proposed for the truce to begin from midnight (1600 GMT) Saturday and is flying to Zamboanga later in the day to begin discussions, Salgado said. Misuari has set no conditions in exchange for agreeing to discuss a ceasefire, he added. The rebels have been battling with more than 1,000 Philippine troops for the last five days in a bid to derail peace talks aimed at ending a Musselmen insurgency that had claimed 150,000 lives since the early 1970s. |
| Posted by:Fred |