Government-MILF peace talks won't resume if...

MANILA, Philippines – Until the issue on the facilitator is resolved with finality, the stalled peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will not push through anytime soon, the MILF said yesterday.

“We have requested the Malaysian government to retain Datuk Othman bin Abd’ Razak as facilitator and this still stands. It is not in the MILF mind to meet in January if the facilitator’s issue is not settled,” said Mohagher Iqbal, chair of the MILF peace negotiating panel.                                

Secretary Teresita “Ging” Deles of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) recently said the MILF will resume talks with the government in January.                                                       

“Without a facilitator, how would the talks resume?” Iqbal said.                                                                                             

He said the move by the government to replace the Malaysian facilitator is causing delay in the resumption of peace negotiations.                                                                                      

One of the reasons why the government wanted Othman, state intelligence chief of Malaysia, replaced is his reported biased towards the MILF.                                                          

As part of the peace measures, Iqbal called on the government to stop the arrest of MILF members and release MILF leaders Eduard Guerra and Aguilar Saligan, who are being held as political prisoners.

“The release is a good confidence-building measure for the Aquino administration, which is steadily losing moral ascendancy in the present talks due to calibrated alibis not to start talks in July,” said Iqbal.

As this developed, Saudi Arabia has accepted an earlier invitation to be one of the International Contact Groups (ICG) in the peace talks, bringing the number of ICGs to four.                                                            

The three other states are the United Kingdom, Turkey, and Japan, while the non-state members are The Asia Foundation (Washington), Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (Geneva), Muhammadiyah (Jakarta), and Conciliation Resources (London).                                                                                  

ICG member-states should “exert proper leverage” on the parties to the negotiation to pursue the path of peace and to comply with obligations they agreed to.

Saudi Arabia was invited with the three countries last year but only the three states immediately accepted the invitation. Last Nov. 11, Saudi Arabia sent a letter of acceptance to join ICG through its embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

MILF chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim said the participation of Saudi Arabia in the ICG will give the peace process personality and legitimacy.