Manila, Jun 02: Philippine Muslim separatist guerrillas today launched a 10-day unilateral truce to persuade the government to reopen peace talks but the authorities remained unmoved, saying military offensives would continue. "We are in religious observance of this (ceasefire) declaration in letter and spirit," said Eid Kabalu, spokesman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the country's biggest Muslim separatist group.
Kabalu said that Muslim rebel forces had stopped offensives against the government a day before the 10-day unilateral truce took effect after midnight (2130 IST Sunday). Military spokesmen in the southern Philippines, where the MILF had been fighting since 1978 to set up a separate Islamic state, said there were no reports of any new clashes since the truce came into force.
Kabalu also said MILF forces had not reported any new military assaults on their positions. However President Gloria Arroyo's spokesman Ignacio Bunye reiterated in a radio interview today that the MILF truce was a "tactical ploy" and that Manila would not reciprocate.
Arroyo made no mention of the MILF truce in speeches and statements delivered hours before she was due to leave today for a state visit to South Korea. Bureau Report