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Norway peace talks Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20021016/ap_wo_en_po/norway_philippines_peace_1http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20021016/ap_wo_en_po/norway_philippines_peace_1
Philippines asks Norway to help revive stalled peace talks
Wed Oct 16,10:10 AM ET
By DOUG MELLGREN, Associated Press Writer
OSLO, Norway - The Philippines government asked Norway on Wednesday to help revive peace talks between it and communist rebels that collapsed last year in the Norwegian capital.
Philippine Foreign Secretary Blas Ople said he was optimistic that talks on ending the 34-year civil war could resume if the rebels accept a government demand that they renounce assassination as a political tool.
"We have come to Oslo as an official mission from the Philippine government to ask the government of Norway to play more active and stronger role as the facilitator for ending the armed conflict," Ople said at a news conference.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen said Norway was willing to host talks if both sides want them.
But Ople and his delegation also are seeking to have European governments declare the rebel groups terrorist organizations — a move leaders of the insurgency said was counterproductive to renewing peace talks.
Luis Jalandoni, a leader of the Marxist umbrella group National Democratic Front, or NDF, which represented the rebels in peace talks, said blacklisting the groups "would seriously jeopardize the chance of talks."
"But we are ready to return to peace talks" based on a series of agreements already signed, he said when reached by telephone in the Netherlands.
Manila suspended official peace talks that were being held in Oslo with the rebels last year after they assassinated a former congressman.
Jalandoni said the rebels consider such attacks legitimate military strikes, rather than assassinations.
The Philippine government believes that listing the NDF, along with the Communist Party of the Philippines, its founder Jose Maria Sison and its armed wing the New People's Army, will hamper funding and operations, forcing them to negotiate.
"A combination of political and diplomatic pressure should help persuade them to come to the peace talks," Ople said.
The U.S. government has already listed the New People's Army and key communist leaders as terrorists.
Guerrillas began fighting for a Marxist state in 1969 and demand economic and political reforms. The conflict has killed or displaced thousands.
Ople and Jalandoni both said there had been informal contact between the sides, which Jalandoni said could lead to unofficial talks in the Netherlands in late October or early March.
"If we made progress there, there could be meetings in Oslo two weeks later," Jalandoni said.
The Scandinavian nation — home of the Nobel Peace Prize — has played a role in some of the world's most difficult peace efforts, including in the Middle East, Guatemala, Sri Lanka and Sudan.
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