MILF Blames Manila for Peace Crisis

MANILA, The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Tuesday, April 28, accused the government of dragging its feet over the implementation of a deal on creating a Muslim homeland in the southern island of Mindanao, the birthplace of Islam in the Philippines.

"The Philippine government bears the responsibility to comply with its commitment to adhere to the consensus points and agreed Memorandum of Agreement draft proposal on Ancestral Domain," MILF leader Murad Ebrahim said in a statement posted on the groups website.

MILF and Manila thrashed out a Malaysian-brokered deal last November on creating a Muslim homeland in the south and revenue-sharing with the federal government.

They agreed to the scope and boundaries of "ancestral domain" or communal land that Muslims lost when the colonial government introduced a system of land titles.

The deal was supposed to serve as a cornerstone for further peace talks, which have since stalled because government hawks oppose giving large swathes of land and water to the MIFL.

MILF has been calling for a regional government in Mindanao, the birthplace of Islam in the Philippines, and a greater control over the region's wealth of resources.

The mineral-rich southern region of Mindanao is home to more than 5 million Muslims.

Clashes Feared
MILF also blamed the Manila government for the scheduled withdrawal of Malaysian peacekeepers from the south.

Malaysia said it would pull out its 60-person force from the International Monitoring Team (IMT) when its mandate expires in September, expressing concern over the talks' slow progress.

Kula Lumber heads the IMT, tasked with monitoring the implementation of a 2004 ceasefire in Mindanao.

"If the peace process fails as a result of the government's dilly-dallying and spoiling, we are left with no choice but to seek other means of achieving our objective," warned Ebrahim.
"Should that happen, the government is to blame for failing to settle the conflict through diplomatic means."

Rommel Banlaoi, of the Philippine Institute for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, warned that the ceasefire could collapse if Malaysia pulled its peacekeepers.

"Malaysia is making a signal to the Philippine government that something has to be accomplished after almost four years of Malaysian presence in the southern Philippines," he told the Voice Of America (VOA).

Muslims make up nearly 8 percent of the total populace in Catholic Philippines, which Islam reached in the 13th century about 200 years before Christianity.

The near 40-year conflict in Mindanao has killed more than 120,000 people, displaced about two million and left large parts of the island mired in poverty.

Source: www.islamonline.com