Moro fighters blame Manila for stalled talks

Manila: Muslim guerrillas said yesterday they are ready for war and accused the Philippine government of abandoning Malaysian-brokered peace talks by refusing to honour earlier accords.

Malaysia has complained about a lack of progress in the talks it has brokered between the two sides and withdrew 28 of its cease-fire monitors from the south on Saturday in the first serious fallout from the impasse.

The US and Philippine officials hope a peace pact between Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and its estimated 11,000 fighters can transform parts of the south into flourishing economic hubs instead of battlefields and safe harbours for Al Qaida-linked militants.

The talks hit a snag in December when rebel negotiators walked out to protest government insistence that earlier piecemeal agreements by both sides in more than three years of negotiations should conform with the Philippine Constitution.

No consensus

The rebels accused President Gloria Arroyo's administration of "deliberately reverting to war after it consistently refused to honour and abide by the 49 consensus points" on the issue of ancestral domain - the size of a territory that could be administered by minority Muslims.

"This is a tragic decision," said Mohammad Ameen, who heads a rebel secretariat. "Arroyo will leave the presidency with blood on her hands. We do not like war, but those who want peace to prevail must prepare for war," he said.