Norway seeks resumption of PHL-NDF talks, to remain as facilitator

Published January 9, 2014 11:36am

Visiting Norwegian Foreign Minister Børge Brende on Thursday said Norway will remain as mediator in talks between the Philippine government and communist rebels as it sought for the resumption of the stalled negotiations in the coming months.

“We’re committed to continue as facilitator ... as long as this is the interest of the government of the Philippines,” Brende told reporters after meeting with Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario.

Brende, who is in the country for an official visit, had met with Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles. He also went to Tacloban City and Basey in Samar province to see first-hand the Norwegian humanitarian operations and assistance to victims in the two areas badly damaged by super typhoon Yolanda in November 2013.

“I understand that there is an interest for the future to find good solution to this ongoing problem,” Brende said, adding he will be discussing the issue with President Aquino in the afternoon to “touch on future opportunities in resuming talks with the communist movement in the months to come.”

“I think the presidency of Aquino is here for several years and we are looking into the opportunity to resume talks in the future,” he said.

The Philippine government and the communist-led National Democratic Front (NDF) last conducted peace talks in Norway in February 2011, when they failed to reach an agreement on issues, particularly on the collection of "revolutionary tax" and the release of some of detained New People's Army (NPA) commanders.

The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), which has been pursuing one of Asia's longest-running insurgencies, spanning more than four decades.

In April last year, the Philippine government ended its peace negotiations with the NDF after a 22-month impasse, citing the lack of "sincerity and political will" on the part of the party and its affiliate groups.

But NDF chief negotiator Luis Jalandoni said it was the Aquino administration, and not NDFP, which "dimmed" the prospects of peace due to the government's supposed refusal to hold its end up on agreements signed by both parties decades ago.

Just last month, the CPP said in a statement on its 45th founding anniversary that it will no longer engage in formal talks with the Philippine government, citing the "proven unwillingness of the Aquino regime to negotiate a just peace." — Michaela del Callar and Andreo Calonzo/RSJ, GMA News

Tags: phlndfpeacetalks, cppnpa, insurgency