The Philippines will resume formal peace negotiations with Muslim rebels this week after a series of deadly clashes led to a near collapse of the talks, according to a senior government adviser.
The talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) were due to begin Monday in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, although Manila remained cautious about what they could achieve, presidential adviser to the peace process Teresita Deles told AFP.
"The talks mark the resumption of formal, full panel negotiations between the two parties," Deles said, but declined to say how long they would last.
"While taking care to avoid preempting the talks by commenting on expectations, I cannot but take a positive view of the fact that formal exploratory talks are pushing ahead following very serious challenges to the peace process in recent months," she said.
Deles was alluding to large-scale violence touched off by an October ambush in which MILF rebels killed 19 soldiers on the southern island of Basilan.
The killings led to pitched battles on several fronts on the main southern island of Mindanao, during which as many as 40 soldiers, police and civilians were killed and thousands displaced.
The violence led to an intense pressure from critics of President Benigno Aquino for the government to end the talks and instead launch an all-out war against the 12,000-strong MILF.
But Aquino held firm, and last month negotiators from both sides met in a series of back-channel talks in Kuala Lumpur to clear the air and prepare for the resumption of formal negotiations this week.
Even prior to the violence, the peace talks had already been stalled since August, when the MILF snubbed a government counter-proposal that did not address their initial demand for the creation of a "sub-state" for minority Muslims.
The Muslim rebellion has claimed an estimated 150,000 lives since it began in the 1970s
