Muslim rebels release Philippine general, aides

MANILA, Feb 4 (Reuters) Muslim rebels released a top Philippine general, a senior government official and over 20 aides today after holding them for two nights in their camp on a remote southern island, a senior army official said.

''They are out. We are happy it is over,'' Colonel Daniel Lucero said.

Brigadier-General Ben Dolorfino, commander of military forces in Manila, and Ramon Santos, head of the government's truce panel, were flown by helicopter out of the rebel base on Jolo island, 950 km south of the capital.

They were expected to arrive at the island's military headquarters later today.

Rebel commander Habier Malik had delayed their departure by several hours to allow a local television crew film inside their camp.

Dolorfino, a Muslim convert, and Santos had flown in on Friday morning for talks with members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) about a shaky 1996 peace agreement.

But Malik had refused to let them leave until he received assurances that a meeting about the 1996 deal would take place in Saudi Arabia between the government, the MNLF and the Muslim world's largest grouping, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

DECADES-OLD CONFLICT Malik, who had said he was merely extending ''an invitation'' for Dolorfino to stay overnight, also wanted the general to apologise for the killing of nine MNLF members and civilians in an encounter with marines last month.

Malik said the military had wrongly identified the dead as members of Abu Sayyaf, the Philippines' most deadly Muslim militant group, which Manila has vowed to crush.

The Philippines is a largely Catholic country but has a sizeable Muslim minority in the south, where a decades-old conflict between Islamic separatists and government troops has killed more than 120,000 people.

The MNLF is the oldest of four Muslim rebel groups in the archipelago. Disillusionment with the way the 1996 peace deal was implemented has encouraged some members to defect to other groups such as the Abu Sayyaf and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

The 57-member OIC, which helped broker peace between Manila and the MNLF, had originally scheduled a meeting last year and then later this month on how to salvage the agreement.

Dolorfino, the highest-ranked Muslim in the armed forces, is well respected on Jolo, where he helped forge a ceasefire in 2005 between the MNLF and government troops.

The father of three regularly visits the impoverished island, where 7,000 troops, backed by US advisers and equipment, have scored recent victories against the Abu Sayyaf and its regional ally, Jemaah Islamiah.

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