The Philippine government hopes to reach an agreement to end a decades-long Muslim separatist rebellion in the south before the end of this year, Defence Secretary Avelino Cruz said here Sunday. Cruz told an Asia-Pacific conference attended by defence ministers and top military officials that a peace pact with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) would isolate the group's members, who have been giving sanctuary to local and foreign militants.
Government and MILF negotiators have been holding Malaysian-brokered peace talks since 2003.
Cruz said the negotiators are moving to iron out differences on ancestral land claims and self-governance issues in areas where the MILF has a presence on the main southern island of Mindanao.
The rebels have demanded the rights to their ancestral homeland, which would traditionally mean Mindanao, the country's second largest island where they have been waging a war for independence since 1978.
MILF officials have said they are willing to compromise on the demand, but have not indicate what they are prepared to accept.
The government hopes that the issue of "ancestral domain" will be settled under the framework of a law covering the rights of indigenous peoples, while self-governance can be modelled on an existing Muslim autonomous region in the south.
"These positive developments give us hope that a peace agreement will be reached before the end of this year," Cruz said in a speech on the final day of the Asia Security Conference organised by the London-based Institute for International Strategic Studies.
A peace agreement is seen as being crucial in the fight against terrorism, as MILF bases in Mindanao have been identified as training grounds for militant groups such as the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), the Southeast Asian affiliate of Al-Qaeda.
"A peace agreement with the MILF will result in the demobilisation and disarmament of most of its members," Cruz said.
"We are also hopeful that a peace agreement with the MILF will draw the line that will separate its moderate members who will return to the fold of the law, from its roque elements that may have been providing support and sanctuaries to local and foreign terrorists.
"Once isolated, the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) can focus on neutralising these rogue elements."
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