Philippines ends peace talks with Muslim rebels

MANILA, Sept 3 (Reuters) The Philippines ended peace talks with the country's largest Muslim separatist group Wednesday, scrapping an 11-year peace process and raising the specter of more violence in the conflict-ravaged south.brManila's sudden shunning of the 11,000-member Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chokes any possibility of an economic lift for the southern island of Mindanao.brThe island has attracted little foreign investor interest despite large deposits of nickel, gold and copper as well as offshore gas reserves and agricultural lands because of the years of violence and uncertainty.brPresident Gloria Macapagal Arroyo decided to scrap the talks after rogue MILF members attacked communities on Mindanao last month, killing civilians and burning property, Dureza said.brManila has insisted its decision was not a return to war and a new peace panel composed of non-MILF stakeholders from Mindanao would be formed to try and end a conflict that has killed over 120,000 people since the late 1960s.brBut Kuala Lumpur, which had been chairing the talks since 2001, warned that violence could escalate and that the MILF had to be involved.brIf the peace process is to prevail, the process has to move forward through renewed format and perimeters agreed by both parties, said Othman Abdul Razak, Malaysia's chief facilitator to the negotiations.brThe alternative would be more violence as hopelessness sets in. I just hope both sides would exercise utmost restraint to preserve peace, which has been elusive in Mindanao.brAnalysts said the decision to pull the plug on the talks reflected the absence of real political will to end the conflict.brThe MILF said it was not surprised by Arroyo's decision, which comes after the government last week junked a territorial agreement that was meant to give Muslims in the south of the largely Catholic country more land and power.brWhat is there to talk about They can't even honor a deal they had made with the MILF, Michael Mastura, a former congressman and a member of the rebel peace panel, told Reuters.brGoing into peace negotiations was only an option because the MILF has been waging a protracted rebellion against government for years, he said.