Talks may resume only after Estrada trial — MILF

GENERAL SANTOS CITY - A spokesman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said yesterday the separatist group will not hold any negotiations with the government until after the impeachment trial of President Estrada is finished.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said the resumption of peace talks and the proposed one-on-one meeting between Mr. Estrada and MILF chairman Hashim Salamat will only be considered after the impeachment trial.

"All proposed talks are suspended until the impeachment trial is finished. The trial has to end and the government has to be stable enough when we start talking," Kabalu said.

In Singapore, Foreign Affairs Secretary Domingo Siazon said Salamat has informed National Security Adviser Alexander Aguirre about his desire to resume negotiations, but only in another country like Saudi Arabia.

Siazon accompanied Mr. Estrada who left yesterday to attend the summit of leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Singapore.

Indonesian President Abdur-rahman Wahid offered to arrange a one-on-one meeting between Mr. Estrada and Salamat when the two heads of state met at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ summit in Brunei recently.

The date and venue of the meeting have yet to be finalized although Wahid has informed Mr. Estrada that he (Wahid) has already discussed the matter with Salamat.

Siazon said Wahid and Salamat were classmates in an Islamic school in Egypt.

Kabalu said Mr. Estrada need not be impeached or ousted by any means before the MILF agrees to resume negotiations with the government.

He said the MILF only wants to make sure that no internal problems within the government would surface and influence or possibly disturb the peace talks.

Kabalu said their decision to temporarily suspend the peace talks is not influenced by the crisis beleaguering the Estrada presidency.

He admitted that the idea of totally ending the negotiations with the Estrada government and waiting for a possible change of leadership had cropped up, but was junked by the MILF assembly at Camp Rajah Muda last Sept. 21-24.

Kabalu said the MILF is greatly interested in resuming the peace negotiations and pursuing the meeting between Mr. Estrada and Salamat.

He said the MILF has received formal notice from Wahid about his offer to mediate the meeting.

Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora, however, said the other day that the meeting will not take place until the government draws up an agenda for the resumption of the peace talks.

Mr. Estrada suspended the talks last June after the MILF refused to abandon its secessionist stand and end its armed struggle.

The government then launched an all-out offensive against the MILF, which saw the fall of 46 of its camps in Central Mindanao, prompting Salamat to declare a jihad or holy war.

Efforts have been made to revive the peace talks but the rebels said they are only willing to return to the negotiating table under certain conditions, including government recognition of previous agreements. — With John Unson