Skip to main contentdfsdf

Home/ stevenwarran's Library/ Notes/ June 18, 2001, The Philippine Star, Vice President Guingona to Attend RP-MILF Libya Peace Talks, by Aurea Calica,

June 18, 2001, The Philippine Star, Vice President Guingona to Attend RP-MILF Libya Peace Talks, by Aurea Calica,

from web site

June 18, 2001, The Philippine Star, Vice President Guingona to Attend RP-MILF Libya Peace Talks, by Aurea Calica,

 

Manila, June 18, 2001 - (STAR) Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr. is to leave for Libya today to lead officials in the opening of peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) .

 

Guingona, who is also foreign minister, told reporters yesterday that representatives from Malaysia and Indonesia will also attend the June 20 talks with the MILF to be hosted by Libyan president Moammar Gadhafi.

 

"Libya wants to give due importance to the coming peace proposal," Guingona said.

 

Libya, along with fellow Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) members Malaysia and Indonesia, helped initiate peace talks between Manila and the larger Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1996.

 

The 12,500-strong MILF is the country’s main Muslim separatist group waging a 23-year war for the establishment of an independent Islamic state in Mindanao. It splintered from the MNLF in 1978 and was left out of the September 1996 peace accord.

 

Libya wants "to continue what it started with the MILF," Guingona said.

 

The landmark peace talks will be held in "shifting venues" between Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, Indonesia’s Jakarta and Libyan capital Tripoli, with representatives from the three countries acting as mediators, he said.

 

Guingona did not say whether the Philippine government would discuss Libya’s earlier offer of help to solve an ongoing hostage crisis in Basilan island involving the smaller Abu Sayyaf group.

 

Gadhafi last week called President Arroyo and extended a "general offer of help" to end the crisis and help recover the remaining 26 hostages, including three Americans, still held by the Abu Sayyaf.

 

Mrs. Arroyo declined the offer for the time being.

 

Libya last year helped Manila secure the freedom of dozens of mostly western hostages by the Abu Sayyaf on nearby Sulu island by offering "development aid" to the war-ravaged south.

 

Huge sums however were reportedly paid despite Manila’s official no-ransom policy. —

Would you like to comment?

Join Diigo for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member.

stevenwarran

Saved by stevenwarran

on Dec 30, 12