Moro Front optimistic on peace talks

Camp: Abu Bakr, Maguindanao In October 1999, this correspondent first travelled to Camp Abu Bakr — the base of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) — to report on the start of peace talks between the then government and MILF.

Eleven years on, as newly elected President Benigno Aquino hopes to reach an elusive peace settlement with Muslim rebels, Gulf News revisits the camp to find out what the main insurgent group in southern Philippines thinks of the peace negotiations.

Mohaqer Iqbal, MILF's chief negotiator, said he hopes "this time, we'll finally be able to address the Moro question".

MILF was formed during the mid-1990s after Salamat Hashim led a breakaway faction from the mainstream Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

Dominant group

The MILF is now the dominant insurgent group in the Muslim south, fighting and negotiating through three major cycles of conflict in 1997, 2000 and 2003, in an effort to win greater autonomy.

According to MILF leader Murad Ebrahim, he currently has 120,000 men, but only 60 per cent of them are armed.

Unlike other groups fighting for recognition, MILF claims to have waged largely conventional warfare.