Peace Talks Resume as Cease-Fire Comes Under Strain in the Philippines
By Zachary Abuza
Monday, September 4 saw the resumption of formal peace talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The government had announced a major breakthrough in the talks with the MILF in April 2005 and in her July 2006 state of the nation address, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo asserted that the talks were "80 percent completed" (The Sun-Star, August 8). Yet talks stalled in 2006 over the thorny issue of "ancestral domain," and the MILF made clear that there would be no peace agreement signed by the end of the year as the government had announced (The Sun-Star, August 8).
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