Philippines declares longest holiday truce with communist rebels

Fri, 03 Dec 2010

Manila - The Philippine government on Friday declared an 18-day Yuletide ceasefire with communist rebels, the longest in 10 years, as part of efforts to resume stalled peace talks.

Alexander Padilla, head of the government negotiating panel, said the suspension of offensive military operations will start on December 16 and last until January 3.

Padilla said the communist National Democratic Front (NDF) was expected to issue a separate truce declaration covering the same dates, as agreed at a meeting in Hong Kong on December 1-2.

During the two-day meeting facilitated by Norway, Padilla said he and NDF chief negotiator Luis Jalandoni agreed to resume formal peace talks in February.

The negotiations have been suspended since August 2005.

"There is a lot of work to be done in the next three months," Padilla said. "The government shall aggressively pursue the path to peace towards a just and honorable settlement of conflicts."

Jalandoni said in a separate statement that a preliminary meeting between the government and rebel negotiating panels has been scheduled for January to prepare for the formal talks.

Communist rebels have been fighting the Philippine government since the late 1960s, making the movement the longest-running leftist insurgencies in Asia.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/356396,holiday-truce-communist-rebels.html.