The largest armed separatist group in the Philippines has declared truce with the government, following a similar move of the military and signaling a possible end to the ten-month hostility that killed hundreds in Muslim Mindanao region, local media reported Sunday.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)'s secluded leader Murad Ebrahim has signed the suspension of all military actions against the government and the group's guerrilla fighters are asked to strictly implement the truce, the Manila Times said.
It came two days after Philippine President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo ordered the military to suspend attacks towards the 11,800- member MILF, to pave the way for the resumption of the halted peace talks since last August.
The MILF has been fighting government troops for decades to establish a self-rule Muslim state in the south of the predominantly Catholic country. A final peace deal with the government will touch the issues of autonomy and the civil settlement of its armed members. But the two sides failed to sign a key agreement in the peace progress last August.
Enraged by the abortion of signing, Rogue MILF fighters, loyal to three field commanders, attacked Christian communities in the Muslim Mindanao, leaving 60 civilians dead. The government immediately scrapped the negotiation panel and ordered troops to aggressively hunt down radical MILF guerrillas.
The military said at least 41 soldiers and 120 rebels were killed in the ten-month-old offensive, and a number of rebels have been apprehended, captured or surrendered.
(Xinhua News Agency July 26, 2009)
