Sweden, Canada To Work for Peace talks with MILF

MANILA, Philippines -- This is a good news for peace advocates all over the world and in the Philippines.

Sweden has joined a bloc of nations backing peace talks aimed at settling a bloody Muslim rebellion in the southern Philippines, while Canada has expressed interest in following suit, officials said Thursday.

The expressions of support come despite a months-long impasse in the Malaysian-brokered talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which has been involved in a decades-old conflict for self-rule in the southern Mindanao region.

Government and rebel negotiators recently decided to accept Sweden into the International Monitoring Team (IMT), a Malaysian-led contingent that primarily safeguards a 2003 ceasefire and prevents occasional clashes from escalating and impeding the talks, presidential peace talks adviser Jesus Dureza said.

"This is like putting many umbilical cords to the peace process," Dureza told The Associated Press. "We really welcome foreign support that would help us forge a final peace agreement."

Malaysia, along with Brunei and Libya, contributes about 60 peacekeepers. Japan joined last year to provide funding for economic projects.

Sweden would like to provide humanitarian and post-conflict assistance, Dureza said.

Rebel negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said the government and the MILF have approved Sweden's entry into the monitoring group but the move has yet to be formalized it because of the current impasse in the peace talks over rebel territorial demands.

A Canadian embassy official also met rebel leaders recently in southern Cotabato city to express Ottawa's desire to join the team to help improve governance in Muslim-majority areas, Iqbal said, adding Canada's application will be discussed when the talks resume.

Canadian Ambassador Peter Sutherland told reporters late Wednesday that his government wanted to help foster hope among Filipinos long entrenched in areas of conflict.

A disagreement over the size of an area where Filipino Muslims could exercise a measure of control over land, resources and governance halted the latest round of negotiations last September.

Manila has submitted a proposal to break the impasse and Muslim guerrillas were studying it. Both sides could meet in an "exploratory meeting" in the near future to discuss details of the proposal, Dureza said.

The Philippine and US governments hope that an agreement with the MILF could transform its vast rural strongholds into hubs of economic growth instead of just conflict zones that could be used to harbor Al-Qaeda-linked militants.

Military officials have often accused the MILF of providing sanctuary to members of the Abu Sayyaf extremist group and Indonesian-based Jemaah Islamiyah. The MILF has denied any links.

The MILF, which the military says has 11,000 fighters, has been battling for self-rule for more than two decades in Mindanao, home to minority Muslims in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines.



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