MILF: No talks unless facilitator issue resolved

(Updated 4:49 p.m.) The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said on Monday it will not enter into informal peace talks with the government next month unless the "third-party facilitator" issue is resolved. “As far as we are concerned, unless the issue of facilitator is settled, we cannot agree to talking with the government anywhere, especially in Malaysia," said Mohagher Iqbal, head of the MILF peace panel in the past seven years. The MILF stood pat on the position it held for months, rejecting the resumption of peace talks with the Philippine government without the participation of a third-country facilitator. Meanwhile, the government has been asking the Malaysian government to replace Datuk Othman bin Abd’ Razak as the third-party facilitator because of what they perceive to be his pro-MILF bias. The separatist Muslim rebels, on the other hand, have been batting for Datuk Othman’s retention, saying that he has done a good job. Iqbal previously cited Othman for being objective in brokering the talks and for siding “with those who are standing on the solid ground of truth." Iqbal said he does not see why Malacañang expressed hopes that the informal talks would begin in January when the facilitator issue has yet to be ironed out. “We have come out with our official position, requesting the Malaysian government to retain Datuk Othman as the facilitator," said Iqbal. “The Philippine government wants him (Othman) replaced…The position of the MILF is for Malaysia to retain him, so we (MILF and government) are on opposite sides," Iqbal added. Iqbal said, “We want the issue of facilitator settled before we meet in Kuala Lumpur…They (government) still insist on replacing Datuk Othman through the newspapers, through the media. That would complicate the problem, it will not be settled." According to Iqbal, if the Philippine government insists on replacing Othman before meeting in the negotiating table, the informal talks “would not be possible." Unless the facilitator issue is settled, “we will not be able to meet," Iqbal said. Peace talks between the government and the MILF broke down in 2008 after the signing ‘Facilitator must be replaced’ In a statement posted on the government’s Official Gazette November 21, the government maintained that for peace negotiations to move forward, Othman had to be replaced. Marvic Leonen, the government’s chief negotiator, said the peace talks would only succeed if Malaysia — the third-country facilitator since 2001 — would assign a new official to replace Othman. “We trust that Malaysia will seriously consider our legitimate concerns. As far as we are concerned, our panel has been anxious to start in the right way. We are committed to resolve the differences in good faith," Leonen also told GMANews.TV then in a text message. Leonen also said a “good facilitator" should resign for the sake of the negotiations, if one side lacks confidence in him. Peace talks between the government and the MILF hit a snag in 2008 following the aborted signing of the GRP-MILF Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain which would have established the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity. – VVP/ DM, GMANews.TV