Maoists doubt Philippines wants to resume talks

MANILA, June 28 (Reuters) Philippine communist rebels rejected government proposals for a ceasefire today and said they doubted the administration was sincere about resuming stalled peace negotiations to end nearly 40 years of rebellion.

In a statement from his base in Utrecht, chief rebel peace negotiator Luis Jalandoni also accused President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's security adviser of sabotaging the peace talks, demanding unacceptable conditions, including a truce.

''National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales does not really want peace talks,'' said Jalandoni, a former Roman Catholic priest who has acquired Dutch nationality. ''He only pretends. In fact, he is sabotaging the peace negotiations.'' Gonzales and Arroyo's peace adviser, Jesus Dureza, met two weeks ago with Norwegian officials brokering talks between the Philippine government and the Communist Party of the Philippines, exploring ways to restart the negotiations.

Jalandoni said Gonzales' demand for a ceasefire agreement as a condition to resume talks suspended since August 2004 was ''calculated to sabotage the peace negotiations''.

The communists have long maintained that a ceasefire agreement without addressing the major differences between the two sides would be tantamount to capitulation. Previous negotiations have taken place without a ceasefire agreement.

The 7,000-member New People's Army, the communist movement's military arm, operates in 69 of the nation's 81 provinces, and the insurgency has killed more than 40,000 people since 1969.

Arroyo has ordered an all-out war on rebels and the military has said they are the number one security problem in the country.

The rebels have been negotiating off and on with successive governments in the Philippines since 1986 but talks collapsed three years ago when the United States and some European states put rebel leaders and the organisation on terrorism blacklists.

Reuters SLD DB1334