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Moro Muslims and Filipino Government to Sign New Documents
JAKARTA, July 26 (IslamOnline) - The Philippines government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will sign another set of documents next month in time for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's first state visit to Malaysia on August 7th, an MILF leader said yesterday.
MILF spokesperson Eid Kabalu said this was relayed to him by Murad Ebrahim, the head of MILF negotiators meeting with a Philippine government panel at Port Dickson in Malaysia.
Kabalu also said that negotiations would be suspended "perhaps today or tomorrow" as government negotiators would be leaving for Manila for consultations.
This would extend the second round of talks, originally scheduled from July 24th to 27th, into August, by which time another agreement would have been signed, Kabalu said.
Reports say that while negotiations are busy attempting to end the 23-year insurgency, the MILF has been setting up three new military camps in Central Mindanao, a high-level military source said.
The source said military field commanders have verified the establishment of MILF facilities in Munai and Nunugan towns in Lanao del Norte, and in the municipality of Riapayungan, Lanao del Sur.
The Nunugan camp is reportedly a training camp manned by at least 100 MILF members.
The source said the three camps have been put under the command of the MILF's 302nd Brigade under Abdul Rakam Macaapar.
Macaapar, alias Commander Bravo, has been tagged by the Philippine's military as responsible for the bombing of two passenger buses aboard a ferryboat in Ozamiz City in 1999.
The bombing killed 34 people. Macaapar is also suspected of involvement in the occupation of Kauswagan town and the massacre of Christians in Bumbaran in the Lanao provinces last year.
The camps are near two former MILF camps - John Mack and Bushra.
The MILF, however, said the camps have always existed and that the MILF has been reinforcing its troops within these camps. It denied reports that it was creating new camps.
It nevertheless said that despite the peace talks, it was free to reinforce or train its troops since a peace has yet to be signed with the government.
A Philippine government official believes the MILF is positioning its forces so it can later claim territories in the ongoing peace negotiations.
In the first round of talks, the two sides agreed to uphold previous agreements that included the virtual recognition of territories supposedly under MILF control.
In Congress, Zamboanga Rep. Celso Lobregat, warned that the peace accord signed by the government with the MILF in Tripoli on June 22nd may be unconstitutional, and could even "bring about the conflagration of the entire Mindanao".
The accord contained provisions that went against specific orders of the President that the talks be conducted "within the framework of the Constitution to protect the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Lobregat said in a privilege speech.
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