Msia asks Philippines army, rebels to exercise restraint
MANILA Malaysia has asked both the Philippine military and Muslim separatist rebels to exercise restraint amid fresh fighting that has claimed over 200 lives in the country's troubled south, a special envoy said yesterday.
Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (
photo
) made the appeal to President Gloria Arroyo's special envoy, Roberto Romulo, during a meeting in Kuala Lumpur to discuss reviving peace talks with the Muslim rebels.
Romulo was dispatched to ask Kuala Lumpur to help convince the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to return to formal peace talks despite the renewed fighting.
MANILA Malaysia has asked both the Philippine military and Muslim separatist rebels to exercise restraint amid fresh fighting that has claimed over 200 lives in the country's troubled south, a special envoy said yesterday.
Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (
photo
) made the appeal to President Gloria Arroyo's special envoy, Roberto Romulo, during a meeting in Kuala Lumpur to discuss reviving peace talks with the Muslim rebels.
Romulo was dispatched to ask Kuala Lumpur to help convince the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to return to formal peace talks despite the renewed fighting.
In a statement released in Manila, Romulo said Badawi "reconfirmed Malaysia's commitment to assist in the search for peace in the southern Philippines."
"He cautioned however that both sides should exercise restraint and should work within the legal framework of the Philippine constitution," the statement added.
Third-party facilitator
President Arroyo said she was still pinning her hopes on Malaysia to get the MILF back to peace talks.
"We are still relying on Malaysia to be the third-party facilitator for the peace process with the MILF," Arroyo said.
Malaysia was due to host peace talks between the MILF and Manila later this year but this was stalled after the military overran an MILF enclave, the so-called Buliok complex, near the southern town of Pikit last month.
Over 200 people died in the fighting, most of them MILF rebels.
The Muslim guerrillas in turn have been blamed for a series of retaliatory attacks on civilians such as raiding villages and staging bomb attacks.
The worst such incident was the bomb blast in the airport of the southern city of Davao last week which killed 21 people and injured more than 150 others.
Government prosecutors have filed charges against the top leaders of the MILF for the Davao blast.
MILF fighters meanwhile have continued to stage attacks in attempts to recover the Buliok complex. An MILF spokesman said 16 of their fighters died in the past two days in attempts to recapture the enclave. AFP
