MILF accepts disarmament policy but…

COTABATO CITY, Philippines -- The Moro Islamic Liberation Front, in pushing for a resumption of negotiations with the government in the face of new hitches on the issue of ancestral domain that led to a renewal of fighting in parts of Mindanao, on Saturday expressed support for the government's "DDR policy" but did so with some reservationsMalacañang has stated it will negotiate with the MILF only in the context of disarmament, demobilization, and rehabilitation, or DDR, and that it would also bring the affected communities into the peace process.

The government’s "shift in paradigm" and statements on DDR have alarmed peace groups, who fear an escalation of the fighting.

The MILF said it was willing to go back to the negotiating table but Malacañang should not be setting any pre-conditions.

"The disarmament, demobilization, rehabilitation, or DDR, should be tackled as the last item in the stalled government and MILF peace negotiation, in case it resumes," said Ghadzali Jaafar, MILF political affairs chief.

Jaafar said the MILF central committee came up with this response to the government’s DDR demand during a recent meeting.

"For the MILF to lay down their arms, by force, as a precondition for the resumption of the talks would be construed as the government using its military might rather than the political approach that most civilized countries used," Jaafar said.

He said the MILF also preferred that the last letter in the initials DDR stood for "reintegration" instead of "rehabilitation."

In a five-point policy statement dubbed as the "MILF Declaration Manifest" that was officially released Friday, the rebel group described President Macapagal-Arroyo's DDR as "the new government road map to peace" that many countries used in resolving armed conflict with the underground.

Jaafar said they acknowledge that DDR "forms part of the comprehensive peace settlement, but it should be the last item in the talks."

"When the DDR is taken up ahead of the comprehensive peace settlement, it is interpreted to be a military approach. Not in the way of a political approach that President Arroyo promised in 2001 when she replaced the all-out war policy of President Joseph Estrada to the all-out peace policy," Jaafar said.

Meanwhile, an official of the International Committee of the Red Cross said Saturday admitted that the renewed conflict in Mindanao "has been extremely violent."

"Mindanao has suffered its worst fighting since 2003," Dominik Stillhart, ICRC deputy director for operations, told reporters here.

Stillhart flew in from Geneva recently as the ICRC stepped up assistance to displaced civilians, whose numbers, he said, could run up to half a million people.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council reported that the number of people displaced by recent rebel attacks and subsequent clashes with responding government forces has exceeded 200,000 individuals in Lanao Del Norte, North Cotabato, and Maguindanao.

"I visited evacuation sites and seeing the deteriorating situation of the IDPs (internally displaced people), we see it fitting to step up our aid," said Stillhart, who visited the village of Libungan Torreta in Pigcawayan, North Cotabato on Friday.

"We could see in their eyes that these people have been displaced many times over," Stillhart said.

Bai Fatima Sinsuat, the local Red Cross official, said the number of people working in the Red Cross relief operations center has increased as more evacuation areas needed assistance.

Perry Proellochs, in charge of ICRC relief operations for Central Mindanao, said the number of their field personnel has also ballooned to about 50 from only five or six before the armed conflict started in July.

"There were so many people that need humanitarian aid and that's our main concern, their health, hygiene, and food," he said.

Suara Bangsamoro, a militant Moro group, said the only way to prevent hostilities from spreading is to resume the peace negotiations. (By Charlie Señase, Edwin Fernandez, Jeoffrey Maitem; INQ.net)