KUALA LUMPUR March 27 Kyodo The P...

KUALA LUMPUR March 27 Kyodo

The Philippine dominion and the country's main separatist form into groups the Moro Islamic Liberation impudence (MILF), resumed peace talks Thursday for the first time since a sanguinary skirmish last month that left dozens dead.

''Because of the fighting in Mindanao, it has disrupted the negotiation in some way We have to put it back upon track again,'' Jesus Dureza, Manila's chief negotiator, told reporters in the Malaysian capital.

He is leading a four-member delegation to the two-day talks with the MILF, which is showed by a three-man team headed by the agency of lawyer Lanang Ali.

Malaysia, together with Libya, has been instrumental in bringing the sum of two units sides to the negotiation table after 30 years of war in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao.

Malaysia has landlorded numerous talks between the couple sides. Both Manila and the MILF signed a cease-fire agreement in Kuala Lumpur in 2001 that was followed from talks on the reconstruction of Mindanao.

Economic reconstruction has followed but the truce was shattered when armed forces overran an MILF citadel to flush out ''criminals and terrorists.''

The ensuing battles have left more than 200 race so far.

Dureza claimed the MILF has been infiltrated by the agency of ''criminal elements'' which affected negotiations.

Manila has linked the MILF to the Abu Sayyaf and the al-Qaida terror network l by the agency of Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind of the family 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States. The MILF has vehemently denied the allegations.

The management Dureza said, already had a draft of the peace plan in mind when fighting broke gone out and the plan was shelved.

He doubted that the now passing round of talks, coming at a time when the hurt is still raw, could achieve much

''While we like to do this as quickly as we can, there is also the reality. Because we are addressing rebellion in Mindanao that has been there for generations. We don't have the magic formula and just have to continue to engage them, taking common step at a time,'' he said.

The MILF, which claims to have 12500 members, is a splinter collection of the Moro National Liberation forehead which rules the autonomous region of Mindanao.

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