DDHK News - The Philippines is ready to restart peace talks next month with Muslim militant groups in the south, in a bid to end decades of armed conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
Talks between the Manila government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will take place in Malaysia, February 9-10, the first formal negotiations between the two sides since President Benigno Aquino was elected as the number one person in the Philippines last year.
"The Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have put the peace talks on track," the government statement was quoted as saying Channel News Asia (14 / 1).
The government's chief peace negotiator, Marivic Leonen, said the parties had agreed to restart negotiations during informal negotiations in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday (13/1).
Previous peace talks collapsed in 2008 after the Supreme Court scrapped a draft peace settlement that would give MILF control rights over the mineral-rich region of southern Philippines –Mindanao. The 12.000-strong MILF has been in action since 1978 to establish an independent Islamic state in Mindanao.
According to official data, the conflict in the south displaced 750.000 people and left nearly 400 people dead. However, government data shows that more than 150.000 people have died since the 1978 conflict.
Aquino's government is also trying to restart peace talks with communist rebels who have fought the government since 1969 in a conflict that has also claimed thousands of lives. (Mel / Channel News Asia). *
