AFP/Kuala Lumpur
Philippine government and rebel negotiators met in Malaysia yesterday, forging ahead with talks on disarming the guerrillas despite a historic peace deal struck last year being thrown into doubt by a deadly clash.
The discussions marked the first formal sit-down between the two sides since a botched Philippine police anti-terror raid in the country’s south last Sunday resulted in a firefight that killed 44 police commandos and shook the peace effort.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which has waged a decades-long bloody insurgency, signed a protocol during an initial encounter Thursday in Kuala Lumpur that paves the way for disarmament.
Talks are expected to continue into the weekend at an undisclosed location as procedures are hammered out.
But the future of the entire peace effort has been called into doubt by the clash in Mindanao, with public calls growing in the Philippines for retribution against the rebels.
The police raid was aimed at capturing or killing a wanted Malaysian terrorism suspect but turned into a debacle when commandos were ambushed by fighters from MILF and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), a MILF splinter group.
MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said by phone that 11 MILF fighters also were killed, and 15 wounded, some seriously.
Last year’s peace deal would create a southern autonomous region for the Philippines’ Muslim minority with locally elected leaders by mid-2016.
Representatives of both sides at the Malaysia-hosted talks said they would not allow the bloodshed to derail the painstakingly achieved peace agreement signed last March.
“There is no other way to move forward,” Iqbal said.
