Rebels said Friday they would only resume peace talks if an international body guaranteed an autonomy deal with the Philippine government despite President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's order for her troops to hold fire. After a year of sporadic clashes in the southern Philippines, Arroyo ordered Thursday a suspension in military operations against the 11,000-member Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Her aides hope that will restore trust and allow some 300,000 villagers displaced by the conflict to return home. The rebels have been fighting for self-rule in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation for decades. Talks broke down last year when the government accused them of attacking villages after the Supreme Court threw out a preliminary autonomy deal as unconstitutional. Chief rebel negotiator Mohagher Iqbal welcomed the government's truce and said he would order guerrilla commanders to hold fire starting Saturday. But he ruled out a resumption of peace talks without “an international guarantee” that any outcome of negotiations would be implemented. He has previously mentioned the participation of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the United Nations but acknowledged the government was cool to such a proposal because it may call into question its sovereignty. “We are very clear to the government: Unless a certain mechanism is in place, we won't talk to the government anymore because we don't trust the government any more,” he told DWIZ radio. “We cannot go directly to the discussion of the political settlement.” The preliminary deal, which was supposed to be signed in Malaysia last August, would have expanded an existing autonomous region in the south. It ran into opposition from Christian politicians who feared losing land and power, and they asked the high court to block it, provoking disgruntled rebel commanders to go on deadly rampage through several coastal communities. Iqbal said a cease-fire signed in 2003 was still holding and that the fighting since last August involved only about 20 percent of the guerrilla force. Chief government negotiator Rafael Seguis said Arroyo's order to troops would also allow some 300,000 displaced villagers to return to their homes and farms. In the past year, more than 500 clashes have taken place in the marshy heartland of Maguindanao province, about 560 miles south of Manila, leaving 123 guerrillas and 41 soldiers dead, the military says, although the rebels say they only lost about 20 men. Separately, hundreds of troops were recently sent to Basilan and Jolo islands for a new offensive against a smaller but more violent group, the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf. The government has rejected talks with Abu Sayyaf since it considers them terrorists because of their involvement in bombings, kidnappings and beheadings of hostages.
