Hashim Selamat, the chief of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, has agreed to lead MILF negotiators who will soon meet their government counterparts in Malaysia, an MILF leader said yesterday.

Many analysts believe that Selamat's participation in the talks would signal an end to the Front's 25-year-independence campaign in the south.

Selamat will head the MILF peace panel at the start of the talks with the government negotiators in Malaysia. The meeting will be held soon, said Ghazali Jaafar, the MILF deputy chairman. "He will be attending the opening of the formal peace talks," confirmed Eid Kabalu, the MILF spokesman, but did not give details such as the date and venue of the talks.

"It will be done in a place that is conducive to the forging of a peace agreement between the two camps," said Kabalu.

President Gloria Arroyo has formally written to Malaysia (the broker of the talks) to request for Selamat's presence at the opening of the talks in Kuala Lumpur, diplomatic sources said.

"The request was endorsed by the Malaysian government," said Kabalu, adding the MILF will officially inform Malaysia about Selamat's decision.

The Malaysian government has persuaded Selamat to change his mind, said Jaafar, adding the MILF chieftain has agreed to Arroyo's request as soon as the justice department quashed the warrants of arrest on him and other MILF leaders. Earlier, they were accused of involvement in bombing activities that had killed 95 people in the south since February this year.

Selamat was also "impressed" when the interior and local government department lifted the bounties on him and the other MILF leaders, said Jaafar.

"What happened has convinced us that the government is sincere in dealing with us because we have been sincere from the very beginning. I hope this will continue," Jaafar said.
Commitment

Earlier, Arroyo said the entry of Selamat as head of the MILF peace panel will make the MILF panel's commitment during negotiations more binding.

But at that time, Selamat refused to head the MILF peace panel because of the intransigence of the government on some of the conditions imposed by the MILF peace panel, for the continuation of the long-stalled talks.

Malaysia had also refused to host the talks when the government failed to lift the warrants of arrest and bounties on the MILF leaders.

Al Haj Ibrahim Murad, the MILF military chief and former MILF peace panel head, will serve as Selamat's vice-chair when the talks begin. Arroyo also asked the government and the MILF negotiators to start the formal peace talks soon, adding, "We should immediately come out with a peace agreement."

"I believe that we are close to forging a peace agreement with the rebels. We will do everything so that the next generations can live in peace," she said, as she ordered the issuance of safe conduct passes to the MILF leaders who will proceed to Malaysia for the renewal of negotiations with the government.