Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar will meet senior leaders of the Philippines' largest Muslim separatist group in southern Mindanao next week, an official from the republic said today.

"The foreign minister hopes to gather (a) first hand view of the situation on the ground during his meeting with MILF leaders," a government official familiar with the plan told AFP .

The official said the meeting was scheduled for Apr 12 in Cotabato city in Mindanao immediately after the Southeast Asian foreign ministers meeting in the central resort city of Cebu.

Peace talks between the Philippines government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) are expected to resume in Malaysia on Apr 16. A ceasefire was signed last year between Manila and the MILF.

The MILF has been waging a separatist rebellion for an independent Islamic state on southern Mindanao island since 1978 but opened preliminary peace talks with the government in 2003.

Syed Hamid would also meet with the international monitoring team in Mindanao which began its ceasefire monitoring duties last October. The 64-member mission is led by Malaysia. It also includes Brunei and Libya.