MANILA - Muslim separatists have told Malaysia they would send their leader Salamat Hashim to lead peace talks with the Philippines government, an aide to President Gloria Arroyo said today.

Kuala Lumpur, which has offered to host the proposed negotiations, announced through its envoy here last week that the talks between Manila and Hashim's Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) would start in the next few days.

"The MILF has given the names of their five negotiators to the Malaysian government for the formal peace talks. Among the five are Hashim Salamat," presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said over government radio.

However, Bunye said there are warrants out for the arrest of Hashim and other key lieutenants for their alleged role in two bombings in the southern city of Davao earlier this year that claimed at least 38 lives.

"The MILF must initiate legal moves. They have to make representations with the Davao (court), through their lawyers' support, so the warrant will not be enforced," he added.

Lifting warrant

Malaysian ambassador Taufik Mohamed Noor said last week that while the neighbors have no extradition treaty, he hoped the Arroyo government would take steps to have the arrest warrants lifted so the MILF leaders would have peace of mind when they travel to Kuala Lumpur for the talks.

However, the Arroyo government has since said it was up to the MILF to take steps to have the arrest warrant lifted.

The 12,500-member MILF has been waging a decades-old guerrilla campaign to set up an Islamic state in the southern third of the mainly Roman Catholic Philippine islands. - AFP