Philippine rebel group denies rushing peace agreement with govt
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-09-22 15:34

The Philippine Muslim rebel group, who reportedly will sign a final peace agreement with the government, Thursday clarified that they will not rush to it but take the peace process "step by step."

Spokesman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Eid Kabalu told reporters that unlike what the government said earlier that the final peace agreement would be finalized by early next year, they are taking the peace process "step by step" for fear they suffer the same fate of the Moro National Liberation Front, which signed a peace agreement with the government in 1996.

"The 1996 agreement between the government and the MNLF is dead. Both parties have interests which cannot be reconciled," Kabalu said.

A group of MNLF leaders led by the late Hashim Salamat bolted out of the MNLF in the late 1970s and formed the MILF because of government's alleged failure in fully implementing the pact.

"We are taking it slowly, step by step. We are not setting a time frame for the talks," said Kabalu, adding that there is a remaining substantive issue that needed further discussion in the negotiating table.

Early this year, MILF and government negotiators have agreed in principle on the ancestral domain substantive issue.

But Kabalu said that a formal agreement must be drafted, signed, and implemented for it to be binding.

Formal peace negotiations between the two sides are scheduled to resume in Malaysia next month to discuss the last remaining substantive issue of political settlement brokered by the Malaysian government.

On Wednesday, government chief negotiator Silvestre Afable said that they are preparing to draft the final peace agreement, which he said will bring about assistance for Mindanao from internal agencies such as the World Bank.

The 9,000-strong MILF has been fighting for the establishment of an independent Islamic state in the southern islands of Mindanao for some 30 years.

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