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Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Muslim rebels optimistic on peace talks
By Al Jacinto
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Monday expressed optimism on the ongoing peace talks with government, saying it is likely to sign new agreements to further hasten the negotiations.
"We are very optimistic about the talks with the Philippine government and we are likely to sign new agreements to hasten the peace process. We really wanted peace to reign in Mindanao," rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu said.
He said rebel and government negotiators are expected to resume the peace talks after Ramadhan, Islam's holiest month, to discuss contentious issues centered on the ancestral domain.
Kabalu said both sides have already agreed on several important matters on ancestral domain--its concept, territories and resources, and will negotiate about how the MILF shall govern these places.
"The ancestral domain is the single most important issue in the peace negotiations before the MILF can reach a political settlement," he said.
Ancestral domain refers to the MILF demand for territory that will constitute a Muslim homeland.
He said government and rebel peace negotiators agreed on several crucial issues, including the coverage of a proposed ancestral domain in the five Muslim autonomous provinces of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao, and other areas in Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani provinces where there are large communities of Muslims and indigenous tribes.
Kabalu said the MILF is willing to compromise if only to arrive at an acceptable, reasonable and comprehensive agreement that would include not only the Muslims, but all ethnic groups in Mindanao.
At least 18 non-Muslim tribal groups live in the southern Philippines--the Ata, Bagobo, Banwaon, B'laan, Bukidnon, Dibabawon, Higaunon, Kalagan, Mamanwa, Mandaya, Mangguwangan, Manobo, Mansaka, Subanen, Tagakaolo, Teduray, T'boli and the Ubo.
Once an agreement is reached on how the MILF would govern these areas, Kabalu said government and rebel peace negotiators would finally discuss the political settlement of the country's longest-running Muslim insurgency problem.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said early this year that 80 percent of the peace talks have been completed and that permanent peace in Mindanao is within reach.
"We have worked with the Organization of the Islamic Conference to forge peace with our Muslim brothers," Arroyo said in her State of the Nation Address in July.
MILF chieftain Murad Ebrahim also said his group is willing to end hostilities in Mindanao and is sincere in its talks with the government.
"Peace is almost at hand. After decades of unrelenting struggle, our flickering hope for a just and comprehensive political solution to the Bangsamoro problem is rekindled. Our legitimate aspiration for a rightful place in our society has once again assumed its proper shape."
"Our life-long dream to establish and develop our homeland as a permanent legacy to the next generation of Bangsamoro people, and the generation after that, which they can call their own, will soon--insha' Allah (God willing)--become a reality," Ebrahim said during a plenum in May.
The MILF has been fighting for independence since it split with the MNLF in 1978, but Manila said it would not allow the country to be dismembered.
Malaysia, an influential member of the OIC, is mediating the peace talks and has sent a team of observers to the southern Philippines to monitor the three-year- old truce between the military and the rebels.
Manila signed a truce with the MILF in 2002; however, sporadic skirmishes between security and rebel forces continue in the south with both sides accusing each other of violating the fragile truce. (Sun.Star Zamboanga/Sunnex)
(October 11, 2005 issue)
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