Japan, Turkey, UK, Saudi Arabia invited to Philippine peace process

The Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front have invited Japan, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia to form part of the International Contact Group (ICG) that will guarantee all agreements in the peace process of the two negotiating parties.

In a statement on released on Saturday, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said of the four states that have been officially invited to join the ICG, only the UK, Japan and Turkey have showed positive signs that they are interested.

Saudi Arabia, the MILF said, has yet to response to the official invitation sent through its ambassador in Manila.

"The MILF top leadership has followed up the matter from the Kingdom's Foreign Ministry," MILF vice-chairman and chief negotiator Ghazali Jafaar said.

Last month, the Philippine government and the MILF said they are ready to hold formal peace negotiations in Malaysia anytime following the signing of three confidence-building agreements crucial to the resumption of talks.

Malaysia is the facilitator of the peace talks which collapsed in August last year after the botched signing of the controversial Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD).

The government and MILF peace panels are just waiting word from the Malaysian government for the resumption of formal peace talks.

The MILF, which the Philippine military says has 11,000 fighters, is the largest group battling for self-rule in Mindanao. A final peace agreement is expected to end more than four decades of Muslim rebellion in Southern Philippines.

Source: People's Daily.
Link: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/6820012.html.