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Govt, MILF to resume formal talks Feb 9-10


After concluding informal peace talks in Kuala Lumpur Thursday, the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front will resume formal peace negotiations on Feb. 9 and 10. Chief government negotiator Marvic Leonen said the International Monitoring Team and Ad Hoc Joint Action Group will likely top the agenda of the talks. "Both parties will resume formal, exploratory talks on February 9-10, 2011. They agreed that the renewal of the mandate of the IMT and the AHJAG will be positively considered in the February meeting," Leonen said in a statement posted on the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process website. He also said the government affirmed the security guarantees previously agreed on and will issue identity cards to MILF members participating in the talks. Leonen added the government will "review individually" the cases of 25 such members allegedly in government custody. As for the issue of facilitation — where government wants the facilitator replaced but the MILF wants retained — Leonen said the Philippines welcomes the Malaysian government's solution. "It is optimistic that talks will move forward constructively," he said but did not elaborate. The government delegation in the informal talks included Leonen, panel member Miriam Coronel Ferrer, and head of secretariat Iona Jalijali. Representing the MILF were panel chairman Mohagher Iqbal, member Michael Mastura and head of secretariat Jun Mantawil. MILF on Mar as troubleshooter Meanwhile, the MILF said President Benigno Aquino III's plan to have former senator and defeated vice presidential bet Manuel Roxas II as his chief troubleshooter bodes ill for the peace process. MILF deputy spokesman Khaled Musa said Roxas, who opposed a memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain, has an "innate hatred for whatever is associated with Moros and Islam." "Roxas is not the ‘troubleshooter’ of Aquino but rather his ‘trouble-maker’ when it comes to the peace process in Mindanao," Musa said in an article posted on the MILF website. He added Roxas' appointment as troubleshooter may mean Aquino is not really interested to conclude peace with the MILF. — RSJ, GMANews.TV

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