The Philippine government disbanded a panel of negotiators engaged in Malaysian-brokered peace talks with Muslim guerrillas yesterday, suspending a years- long peace process following fresh fighting in the country’s south.
But Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her key aides stressed that the government was not permanently abandoning the idea of peace talks.
Instead, they will seek a new approach that involves wider consultations with affected communities and a promise by the rebels to disarm, they said.
The government will also continue to honor a ceasefire guarded by Malaysian-led peace monitors in southern Mindanao, considered the homeland of Muslims, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said at a news conference.
The disbanded panel, which was led by retired General Rodolfo Garcia, will be reconstituted depending on several factors, including the selection of new negotiators to be nominated by communities and groups affected by the Muslim rebellion, Ermita said.
Arroyo said yesterday that widespread fighting, which has killed scores of soldiers, rebels and civilians in Mindanao’s mountainous heartland since last month, should stop before the talks with the 11,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) can resume.
“We must bring stability to the region and regain order before we can effectively reactivate the peace process in earnest,” Arroyo said in a speech at a Manila jobs fair for young Muslims.
Rebel vice chairman Ghazali Jaafar said Arroyo could disband the panel at any time.
But “what is important is [that] there has been no pronouncement that the peace talks have been cut off,” he said by telephone.
Jaafar wondered how both sides would deal with an emergency without a government panel authorized to deal with the rebels.
Malaysian Ambassador Ahmad Rashidi said his government would continue to broker peace talks.
“We have to be optimistic. The target is still peace,” he told reporters in Manila.
Arroyo reiterated that the government would no longer sign the accord on the expanded Muslim region because of rebel attacks on civilian villages and she warned rebels against returning to violence.
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