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Sunday, February 08, 2004
Negotiators hopeful of peace accord with communist rebels (2:30 p.m.)
MANILA -- The Philippines is hopeful of signing a peace accord with communist insurgents in peace talks to start in Norway this week, the government's chief peace negotiator said Sunday.
The government will also ask the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its political National Democratic Front (NDF) to halt attacks on government targets and stop collecting extortion money from candidates ahead of the May 10 elections, chief negotiator Silvestre Bello said.
"We are hoping to push the peace talks forward," Bello told AFP, adding that the six-man government panel was to leave for Norway late Sunday.
"These (requests) are more of a confidence-building measure to lower the level of violence and provide the talks with a more conducive atmosphere," he said.
Among other things, the CPP-NDF leadership is expected to press for its delisting as a terrorist organization.
The United States and the European Union consider the CPP-NDF and its armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA), as terrorists and have moved to
choke off funding from foreign-based organizations sympathetic to the insurgency.
President Arroyo suspended peace talks in mid-2001 after the NPA assassinated several prominent politicians.
The NPA has been stepping up attacks against the government in recent weeks and has been forcing politicians straying into rebel-occupied areas to pay "permit to campaign" fees as part of its strategy to shore up funds. AFP |
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