AJLPP Express Deep Concern Over MILF-GRP Talks: Gov’t chief peace negotiator for MILF quits

Los Angeles --The Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace (AJLPP) today expressed apprehensions over the sudden and unexplained resignation of Silvestre Afable Jr. , government negotiator for peace process for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)

MILF equally expressed fears that negotiations for a peace agreement with the government would have to start from scratch again as a result of the resignation of the chief of the government’s peace panel, Silvestre Afable.

AJLPP is deeply concerned that Afable’s resignation came at a time when the government and the MILF were close to restarting talks on a proposed ancestral homeland for 3 million Muslims in Mindanao. AJLPP knows that Afable who was a former staffer of DND Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile,has served since the two sides agreed to return to negotiations after hostilities erupted in February 2003.

On the other hand, MILF Mohaqher Iqbal, the rebels’ chief peace negotiator, told Reuters in a telephone interview: “This is a setback,” He added: “This is not a very good indication. This could affect the entire peace process. At a personal level, we could be starting all over again.”

Malacañang has not officially announced Afable’s decision to quit the peace panel. “He was getting frustrated because he was not getting enough support from the President and from her security officials,” said another member of the peace panel, who declined to be named.

“He felt there were some people in the Cabinet who were not serious in finding a lasting solution to the Muslim rebellion in the south.”

AJLPP is seriously following the peace talks of the GRP and the MILF. The government has been talking with Muslim rebels to end nearly 40 years of conflict that has killed more than 120,000 people and displaced 2 million in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic country.

AJLPP is also concerned that the hostilities will start anytime especially that the talk0 over the size and wealth of a proposed Muslim homeland have been stalled since September 2006 . Although backroom negotiations continued, resulting in a breakthrough in December when Manila agreed to grant Muslims the right of self-determination. Talks were set to resume in Malaysia in July, negotiators have said.

“We were in the process of wrapping up the details on territory and we were ready to resume negotiations in three to four weeks,” said a peace panel member, who expressed surprise over Afable’s resignation. “He (Afable) was very optimistic about the talks early this week. There was no indication he was leaving us behind. We were caught by surprise. I still have to talk to him about this.”

In a related development, a Malaysian official familiar with the peace process said it was too early to say if Afable’s resignation would affect the talks. “He has been very effective in building trust with MILF leaders,” the Malaysian official told Reuters, referring to Afable. “He has contributed a lot in narrowing the gap and has deep understanding of the complexity of the process.

The AJLPP observed that the NDFP and GRP has been stalled since 2003. The GRP has opted to launch military offensives against the NPA since then. More than 860 persons has been killed in a spree of political killings and more than 200 have been missing ever since.

**************