Philippine military chief stops fighting in south

MANILA, Jan 28 (Reuters) The chief of the Philippine Armed Forces has ordered troops to stand down to prevent an escalation of fighting between the military and the Muslim separatists which could further endanger the government's peace talks, the Muslims' chief peace negotiator said today.

Mohaqher Iqbal, chief of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panel, told Reuters that he was informed by the head of the government truce panel that Armed Forces Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon ordered a stop to military operations in Midsayap town in the southern Philippine province of North Cotabato.

''As of this morning, fighting has stopped, both sides have disengaged,'' Iqbal said. But he added that troops were still visible in the area.

The fighting that erupted yesterday left six dead and members of a joint ceasefire committee of the government and the MILF have been sent to investigate the cause of the skirmish.

''The unfortunate incident in Midsayap, North Cotabato is now being handled by the joint ceasefire committee of the government and MILF,'' Jesus Dureza, presidential adviser on the peace process, told reporters.

''The situation has started to normalise. We are now moving to assist the evacuees,'' he said.

Around 2000 residents from five villages fled their homes when the fighting started but some have started to return, Dureza said.

Lieutenant-Colonel Julieto Ando, a military spokesman in Cotabato, said there were no more additional casualties from the six killed yesterday, which included three rebels and three members of a pro-government militia.

Ando had said the fighting broke out when soldiers chased a group of armed men raiding rice farms in Midsayap, seizing produce from local farmers.

A truce between the government and the MILF, the largest of four Muslim rebel groups in southern Philippines, has been in place since July 2003, with minor skirmishes recorded.

Peace talks, brokered by Malaysia since March 2001, were stalled in May last year due to differences over the size and wealth of a proposed homeland for about 3 million Muslims in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic country.

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