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MILF Sets Request Before Start of Talks With Government
The Philippine Muslim rebel group - -Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has called on the national government to grant their three-point request before formally starting their long-stalled peace talk, Philippine News Agency (PNA) said Wednesday.
Ghadzali Jaafar, MILF vice-chairman for political affairs, said that though the group is ready to talk peace, they are still awaiting for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo' response to the three salient points that have to be considered before negotiations push through.
According to the PNA, the MILF request includes the holding of the formal talks abroad; the recognition of all signed government- MILF agreement in the past; and the assigning of a country belonging to the powerful 56-Arab nation Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC)to act as mediator.
Jaafar reportedly expressed sentiments over the MILF's harsh experience under the former administration of President Joseph Ejercito Estrada who himself ordered an all-out military offensive against it in Mindanao.
The Muslim rebel leader said they are hoping that the same " bloody and horrifying" experience will not anymore take place under the Macapagal-Arroyo administration.
Also on Wednesday, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo confirmed that the government and the MILF recently signed an accord in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to jump-start stalled peace talks between the government and the MILF.
Peace talks between the two parties collapsed last year when former President Joseph Estrada ordered an all-out war against it after it failed to meet a deadline set by the government to sign a peace deal.
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