Monday, August 30, 2004 Military-MILF fighting 'won't affect' talks
MANILA -- Government officials said Sunday they were taking steps to keep the lid on clashes in Maguindanao to ensure forthcoming talks with separatist Moro rebels would go ahead as planned.
Chief government negotiator Silvestre Afable Jr. said the clash stepped from a local "rido" or vendetta which the military was merely trying to control and stop from spreading and affecting the whole community.
Military officials doubt if the sporadic fighting reported in the towns of Ampatuan and Mamasapono in Maguindanao province in the past 10 days would affect or derail peace negotiations between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
At least one soldier and two MILF guerillas had been killed in the clashes.
The fighting occurred as the two sides prepared to resume talks in nearby Malaysia, which has offered a neutral venue as well as ceasefire monitors to help the Philippines obtain a political settlement to a decades-old rebellion by sections of its largest minority group.
The clashes "will not hamper and strain the talks between the (Philippine government) and the MILF," military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Lucero said in a written statement.
A joint ceasefire committee was working to "find ways to prevent the escalation of the violence," he added.
Afable said the committee was already on their way to the conflict area to assess the situation.
"This situation is localized and has nothing to do with outstanding issues in the government-MILF talks," he added.
Both the military and rebel group have accused each other of violating the standing ceasefire in Mindanao.
President Arroyo's spokesman Ignacio Bunye agreed that the skirmishes in Maguindanao were isolated incidents and would not dent efforts to resume talks.
The arrival of a 60-man monitoring team from Malaysia in Mindanao next month would help lessen tension in the area and possibly prevent a repeat of such clashes, he added.
Government troops, meanwhile, denied on Sunday a report by an MILF spokesman that Saturday's fighting in Mamasapano left eight soldiers and two guerrillas dead.
"We have no casualties," said local military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Franklin del Prado, who insisted the soldiers were merely defending their position against an MILF incursion.
"We have submitted a formal report of this incident to the government peace panel. This is a violation of the ceasefire agreement between the MILF and the Arroyo government" that was signed 13 months ago, MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said.
Last week, President Arroyo's government dropped criminal charges against 185 MILF fighters and leaders accused of deadly bombings in the south in a bid to kickstart the peace process. (JMR/With AFP)
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