MANILA, March 30 Kyodo The Philip...

MANILA, March 30 Kyodo

The Philippine regulation and the country's main separatist clump the Moro Islamic Liberation face (MILF), have agreed to countenance previous agreements and push peace efforts, officials of the two sides said Sunday.

The understanding, embodied in a joint statement issued after exploratory talks held March 27 and 28 in Malaysia, is springed to lead to a final peace pact that would completion three decades of bloodshed in the southern Philippines.

Jesus Dureza, leader of the five-member control delegation to Kuala Lumpur said the same of the eight points of agreement reached is the ''common commitment that the two sides would like to achieve comprehensive, lasting, political settlement''

''And then, of course, we have to work toward the resumption of the peace negotiations,'' he said.

Dureza said the two sides' technical committees will be meeting in pair weeks to formulate implementation of guidelines for May 6 2002 concerning the nearness of criminal groups in the southern island of Mindanao.

Accusations that criminals find harbor in MILF-controlled areas in the southward has been a sore point between the sway and the rebels.

The issue sparked last month clashes in the North Cotabato and Maguindanao provinces that left dozens dead and thousands of civilians displaced.

To mitigate the impact of the fighting, the couple sides agreed to forge ''a recently made known arrangement on the ground'' that will facilitate recur of evacuees to their places of origin and allow rehabilitation.

A cluster will also be set up to monitor cessation of hostilities, aside from the activation of an agency to conduct development projects in conflict-affected areas.

MILF negotiators will also be accorded security and safety guarantees.

yet both sides remain noncommittal in succession actual disarming on the ground

Dureza said that whether the latest agreement will translate into a reduction of companys in Mindanao ''will have to be determined forward a tactical level on the ground''

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said his group's forces continue to grasp existing positions in the areas of conflict.

''There is still fighting here. however what is important is there is an initial arrangement, a 'go' signal from as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but parties to pursue the peace talks. That's to what end we sent a team (for talks in Malaysia),'' Kabalu said.

The MILF and the Philippine sway have yet to sign a final agreement to cloak all aspects of the 2001 Tripoli Agreement that lays down mechanisms for peace.

sum of two units documents so far agreed about state guidelines on security and rehabilitation of conflict-affected territories. The last issue to be tackled involves ancestral domain of Filipino Muslims.

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