Kenney to gov’t, MILF: Return to talks
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:22:00 11/23/2008
Filed Under: Diplomacy, Government, Mindanao peace process, Armed conflict
DATU ODIN SINSUAT, Shariff Kabunsuan, Philippines—US Ambassador Kristie Kenney has called on the Philippine government and the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to silence their guns and return to the negotiating table to stem the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Mindanao.
“I ask both parties to find their way to declaring a cease-fire so that people can return home… communities can again be reunited and life can go on peacefully,” said Kenney during a visit to an overcrowded evacuation center here on Friday.
Earlier, the European Union, through its ambassador Alistair McDonald, and various international organizations also made similar calls for peace.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) estimated the number of people displaced from their homes since hostilities erupted in August at 66,000.
Unless the guns are silenced, “the more you’ll see people like this,” said Kenney, who announced a $2.5-million US grant for the relief and rehabilitation of war-torn communities.
“You know that peace is the better solution to the problem,” she said. “There are so many people, as you see, no longer in their homes.”
Kenney said a cease-fire would help the displaced persons rebuild their lives.
“My thoughts are with those who have been displaced by the fighting, people whose lives have been lost and disrupted. Working together, we can help Mindanao move toward peace and prosperity so people may have the future they deserve,” she said.
Stephen Anderson, United Nations World Food Program country director, who came with Kenney, said support from the United States also included some 1,480 metric tons of rice which would be arriving in February.
A 2001 cease-fire in Mindanao brokered by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) broke down after the government backed out of an agreement to grant the secessionist MILF an expanded autonomous homeland. The Supreme Court has declared the agreement unconstitutional.
Government as well as MILF representatives are still locked in mutual recriminations over who is to blame for the resumed fighting.
Reacting to Kenney’s call, MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said “the problem lies with Manila and not with the MILF.”
“The best thing to do is for the government to stop bombing us, allow the Malaysian-led peace monitors to conduct a probe (of the North Cotabato and other skirmishes). If the government will declare a cease-fire, we will do the same,” Iqbal said.
The government, on the other hand, wants the two MILF commanders suspected of leading the armed attacks on civilian towns to be turned over to authorities to face court charges before it sits down for any new talks.
The MILF had said the two commanders blamed for the attacks in North Cotabato and Sarangani—Kato and Bravo—had acted without MILF authority, but it has refused to turn them over to the government. Jeoffrey Maitem, Edwin O. Fernandez and Charlie C. Señase, Inquirer Mindanao
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