The Philippines has decided to keep Malaysia as the facilitator of peace talks with Muslim separatists as it seeks to restart negotiations to end a decades-long insurgency, the president's spokesman said. Kuala Lumpur has been hosting negotiations between Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) since March 2001 to end a conflict that has killed 120,000 people, displaced 2 million and stunted growth in resource-rich areas in the south. The MILF was worried the new government might remove the Malaysians as part of a review of the peace talks, and had said that could derail a planned resumption of talks in September. “Malaysia is still the third-party negotiator,” Edwin Lacierda told a briefing at the presidential palace on Tuesday. “It's not easy to change facilitators, so we've decided to stick to the Malaysians,” Lacierda said, noting they had also supervised a 60-member international team of peace monitors. President Benigno Aquino has said a secure and sustained peace would help attract investment needed to generate jobs. On Monday, Aquino said he had heeded the advice of his peace advisers to retain Malaysia to avoid any delays in the talks. Manila has been in stop-start negotiations with the MILF since 1997, resulting in nearly 90 minor deals on things such as rehabilitating conflict areas and protecting civilians, but a comprehensive political settlement remains elusive.
