October 19, 2001	Friday	Shaba'an 1, 1422

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18: The Philippine government and a Muslim separatist group on Thursday agreed upon a “manual” to guide monitoring teams as they begin to implement a ceasefire pact inked earlier this year.

Negotiators said the manual was a key instrument that will spell out instructions for a joint committee, comprising officials from the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and local monitoring teams on how to go about implementing a cessation to the hostilities in Mindanao.

“The manual gives detailed instructions to the committee and local monitoring teams to undertake their assigned tasks. So now they are ready to function,” MILF vice chairman Murad Ebrahim told reporters after the signing in Kuala Lumpur.

The manual was agreed upon as the two sides resumed Thursday a third round of peace talks in the Malaysian capital to flesh out details of a landmark ceasefire agreement they signed in Libya in June to end over two decades of conflict.

Jesus Dureza, the chief negotiator for the Philippine government, said with the agreement, both sides were confident of each other’s sincerity in maintaining a ceasefire on the ground.

The MILF claims there have been 12 ceasefire violations since August. Both the MILF and the Philippine government blame each other for the violations.

“It is important now to go to the ground to start doing workshops, meeting with the local stake holders so that they will be helping us with keeping peace in their areas. I think that is the most important part of our work,” Dureza said.

“We look forward to strengthening the ceasefire agreement, and that is why we have agreed on the manual,” he added.

Dureza said there had been some violations of the ceasefire, but pointed out there had been no recent escalation of fighting.

“So we really have to work hard to address some of events that have happened so that they would not occur in future,” he said.

Referring to the latest round of talks, which will end on Saturday, he said both sides will discuss plans to rehabilitate and develop conflict areas, and Muslim ancestral lands in Mindanao.

The MILF fought a rebellion for over two decades to try and set up an Islamic state in Mindanao.

Manila has already signed a peace deal in 1996 with another Muslim rebel group, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), leaving only the radical Abu Sayyaf fighting for an independent homeland.

TROOPS HUNT ABU SAYYAF CHIEF: Philippine troops intensified on Thursday a manhunt for Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani and two Yemeni nationals with him during a daring escape after a military offensive was launched against the rebel group.

Lieutenant General Roy Cimatu, chief of the Armed Forces’ Southern Command, said a special operation to capture Janjalani and his two companions has been focused on the main southern island of Mindanao.

“He is just somewhere here,” Cimatu said. “We have a special operation within the western Mindanao area.”

Cimatu said Janjalani and the two Yemenis left Basilan island province, 900 kilometres south of Manila, on October 5, leaving behind his men who were still holding captive two Americans and eight Filipinos.

The escape took place a few days before fierce clashes erupted between government troops and Abu Sayyaf rebels, which resulted in the killing of at least 11 guerrillas and the escape of eight Filipino captives.

Cimatu said the rebels holding American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham and eight other Filipino captives have split up into smaller groups to evade detection by pursuing troops.

“The bandits have broken into smaller groups which complicate our operations,” he said. “But the mission to rescue the hostages and destroy the Abu Sayyaf stays.”

The Burnhams were among 20 people seized on May 27 from a Philippine luxury resort. The group was brought to Basilan, where the guerrillas seized additional hostages while evading government forces.

The rebels have already beheaded a third American hostage - 40-year-old Californian tourist Guillermo Sobero — and 14 Filipino captives since the start of the hostage crisis.

The Abu Sayyaf is the smallest but most violent rebel group in the south. It gained international notoriety last year when it abducted 21 people, including Western tourists, from a Malaysian resort.

The US has identified the Abu Sayyaf as one of 27 individuals and groups with links to Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the Sept 11 attacks on New York and Washington that left more than 6,000 people presumed dead.—dpa