Norway: No stand on delisting CPP-NPA

Norway remains neutral in the efforts of Philippine communists to be removed from a list of international terrorist groups, its embassy in Manila said yesterday.

Charge d’Affaires Lars Loberg denied a report published in The STAR last Thursday quoting him as saying that any move by Manila to help the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), remove the terrorist tag pinned on them by the United States and the European Union would help in peace talks.

In a statement to The STAR yesterday, Loberg said Norway "as a facilitator does not have a view in this case and it is up to the Philippine government itself to decide on any action here." The talks are being held in Norway’s capital of Oslo.

The rebels unilaterally broke off from the negotiations after Washington last Monday renewed its terror tag on the CPP-NPA.

Chief government negotiator Silvestre Bello III said main rebel negotiator Luis Jalandoni had informed him that negotiations would resume in September.

The rebels have asked Manila to persuade the United States and the European Union to take them off their list of foreign terrorist organizations.

US law makes it illegal for individuals or organizations in the United States or in US territories to provide material support to the rebels and requires US financial institutions to block its assets.

It also provides a basis for the US to deny visas to representatives and members of the Maoist group.

The CPP has been waging an armed revolution for the past 35 years to set up a socialist government.

The military continues to regard the Maoist rebels as the biggest threat to national security.

The government had said it would not step in to have the CPP and NPA taken off the terrorist watch list.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Delia Albert reiterated that the listing was a decision made by sovereign governments and, thus, the Philippines will not interfere.