The Philippine government and MILF rebel negotiators are not ready to proceed with peace talks due to have begun on the weekend, forcing a postponement, Malaysian organisers said today.

"Both parties were probably not ready to proceed. They need to iron out some other things," a Malaysian official told AFP , declining to reveal the issues still to be resolved.

The talks between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), aimed at ending a decades-old Muslim separatist rebellion in the southern Philippines, were scheduled to begin Sunday.

They will likely resume within the next one or two months, the organising official said. "They are likely to proceed. Both parties are determined to pursue peace," he said.

Malaysia has been mediating peace talks between Manila and the 12,000-strong MILF, a Muslim rebel group that has been fighting for more than two decades to set up an Islamic state in the southern third of the Philippines.