MILF hits govt DDR tack as ‘bad terminology’

MANILA, Philippines - The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) dismissed Monday the government's policy of demilitarization, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) as a "bad terminology" that no revolutionary organization "worthy of its salt" would accept. An article on the MILF website said it would have been better had government used the term "disposition of forces and weapons." "I just wanted to clarify loose ends that might be misunderstood that the MILF agreed to discuss DDR and not the MOA-AD when talks resumes," said MILF vice chairman on political affairs Ghadzali Jaafar. The MILF said DDR is a concept pursued by the United Nations and applied in several post conflict situations in South America, Asia, and Africa. Subjects of the programs were mainly ex-combatants and their families, who were impoverished and traumatized by these long conflicts. The MILF noted that in 2006, the Swedish ambassador to the Philippines, aided by several experts from South America, Congo, and Asia conducted a three-day forum on DDR at Darapanan, Sultan Kudarat, Shariff Kabunsuan. Participants were all senior members of the MILF. At the end of the three-day sessions, various recommendations were made including the adoption of terms instead of DDR. In a five-point policy statement called the "MILF Declaration Manifest" that was officially released on Friday, MILF described President Arroyo's DDR as "the new government road map to peace" that many countries in the world use in resolving armed conflict with the underground. Jaafar said the MILF acknowledged that the DDR "forms part of the comprehensive peace settlement." But, he said, it should be the last item, and not in the forefront, of the talks. "When the DDR is taken up ahead of the comprehensive peace settlement, it is interpreted to be a military approach. Not in the way of a political approach that President Arroyo promised in 2001 when she replaced the all-out war policy of President Joseph Estrada to the all-out peace policy," Jaafar said. - GMANews.TV