A southern Philippines bishop has urged the government to immediately resume peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) amid reports the rebel group is gearing up for war.
“It is urgent that both sides sit down and start negotiations,” Auxiliary Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo of Cotabato told Radio Veritas 846, ucanews.com reports.
He was speaking a day after a national daily reported a threat by Ebrahim Murad, chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), to launch a war if peace talks did not resume. “The threat is uncalled for,” Bishop Bagaforo said. He also warned that the statement attributed to Murad could trigger the arming of Christians in potential conflict areas.
The 15,000-strong front, which has been fighting since the 1970s for Islamic rule in claimed territories, has engaged in on-off peace negotiations since 1997.
President Benigno Aquino III has appointed a new chief negotiator with the MILF, who said talks will resume after the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
Newspaper reports this week, however, quoted Murad as saying the MILF had “amassed an arsenal with help from military gunrunners.”
However, Mohagher Iqbal, MILF chief information officer and chairman of the front’s deactivated peace panel, dismissed the reports, saying it was “ill-timed” for Ramadan.
“It creates an impression that the MILF is bloodthirsty even during Ramadan,” Iqbal said, calling on the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper not to “exaggerate what otherwise are straight facts from a particular event.”
Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the government is receiving only “positive information from [the MILF] that they are also eager to pursue the peace process.”
“Maybe they (MILF) are worried that the peace process wouldn’t push through,” Lacierda commented in relation to the remarks attributed to Murad.
SOURCE
Bishop calls for urgent peace in Mindanao (ucanews.com)