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Duterte says peace talks with rebels can proceed without leader

Xinhua, August 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Monday that peace talks with the rebels can proceed even without its exiled leader Jose Maria Sison, reiterating his ultimatum for the rebels to stop using landmines in attacking government troops or he would be forced to scrap the peace negotiations.

In a speech before soldiers in Samar province, Duterte lamented the dilly-dallying of communist rebels in responding to the government-initiated peace talks.

Duterte said he is getting exasperated by the rebels' indecision. However, he said "still I would insist that we talk with or without Sison or with or without the politburo."

To the communist rebels, Duterte said, "We want peace but if I hear another landmine explosion then (we bid the peace talks) goodbye. I will order the peace panel to return to the Philippines. Don't waste your money there and talk nonsense."

"I am not warning you. I'm not giving an ultimatum even. I'm just saying that if another landmine explodes which is prohibited by the Geneva Convention I will forego with the peace talks and forget about it," he warned.

The government and the communist rebels are scheduled to hold talks in Oslo, Norway on Aug. 20 to Aug. 27, in a fresh attempt to revive stalled talks to end decades-old communist insurgency.

But even before the formal talks resume, Duterte and Sison have engaged in off-and-on word war that started when Duterte lifted a unilateral ceasefire when the rebels failed to reciprocate.

In his speech speed in Samar Monday, Duterte also bared that he plans to fly to Jolo, the largest of the Sulu islands in the Mindanao region, "within the next few days" to meet up with Nur Misuari of the Moro National Liberation Front(MNLF) or his emissary.

"I would just like to talk to everybody. I'm ready to talk to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the MNLF. I would like talks to begin because the government panel is ready," Duterte said.

The government and MILF representatives have already agreed to meet in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Aug. 13 and Aug. 14, according to the government.

The Philippine military said the New Peoples' Army, the Communist Party of the Philippines" armed wing, has an estimated 4,000 members. They have been fighting the government since 1969 in one of Asia's longest-running insurgencies.

Since 1986, the government has been attempting to forge peace talks with the communist rebels but the on-and-off talks have faltered many times since. Sison, 77, has been living in Europe since the first peace talks collapsed in 1987.

Duterte has been going around military camps to explain his peace policy and meet face-to-face with the soldiers on the ground. Endit