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Inquirer News Service (with additional material by AP and AFP). 19 and 18 August 2002. NDF has not shut doors to peace talks: Jalandoni; Communist guerrillas threaten Americans if U.S. joins war. MANILA -- The CPP's armed wing the 12,000-member New People's Army (NPA) on Saturday vowed to go after US military advisers in the Philippines and to hit American economic interests in this Southeast Asian island chain. "The U.S. is bound to suffer growing casualties among American troops, who are all vulnerable targets of the tactical offensives of the people's army," Communist Party spokesman Gregorio Rosal said in an e-mail to journalists in northern Baguio city. "As casualties among American troops mount, the illusion of (the) invincibility of the U.S. high-tech war will be shattered," Rosal said. However, the National Democratic Front has not totally shut the doors for peace talks with the Macapagal government amid reports that it is placing resumptions of the negotiations "under indefinite study," the organization's peace panel chair said Monday. "The position of the NDF national council is to be open to resume peace negotiations. But the military intervention of the United States and the massive human rights violations has dealt a big blow to its likely continuation," said Luis Jalandoni in a telephone interview aired at GMA Network's "Unang Balita." Jalandoni's statement came after the government projected that talks with the communist insurgents are headed for collapse. The communist rebels are claiming the United States may be planning direct involvement in offensives against them after the U.S. State Department last week included the Communist Party and its armed wing, the New People's Army, on its list of foreign terrorist organizations. NDF negotiators earlier recommended to their principals "to hold under indefinite study the (NDF's) negotiations with the Macapagal-Arroyo government," chief NDF negotiator Luis Jalandoni said in a statement. Arroyo, who suspended negotiations last year after the rebels assassinated two legislators, "must be held accountable for destroying the possibility of advancing the (Manila-NDF) peace negotiations," Jalandoni added. "The position of the NDF national council is to be open to resume peace negotiations. But the military intervention of the United States and the massive human rights violations has dealt a big blow to its likely continuation," said Luis Jalandoni in a telephone interview aired at GMA Network's "Unang Balita." Jalandoni urged the immediate formation of a joint monitoring team to address complaints of human rights violations especially against the activist organization in the countryside. He also challenged the Macapagal administration to "show sincerity" in implementing the Hague Joint Declaration and the previous signed agreement, including the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CAHRIHL). "These agreements should have binding effect on the Macapagal regime because they have been previously agreed upon," Jalandoni said. The NDF is the political wing of the insurgent Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), which joined Washington's blacklist of "foreign terrorist organizations" earlier this month. Following the US action, the Dutch, British and Filipino governments vowed to launch separate efforts to track down and block the rebels' assets. Jalandoni is among about 30 senior insurgent leaders living in exile in the Netherlands. He claimed the Manila government was committing "massive human rights violations against the people." "This constitutes state terrorism of the worst kind," he added. Jalandoni also alleged that Arroyo "is collaborating with the US in misrepresenting the negotiators, consultants and staffers of the (NDF) as 'terrorists' and oppressing them abroad." On Sunday, Philippine army soldiers clashed with about 50 communist guerrillas near a southern mountain town and killed at least two rebels, officials said. The 30-minute gunfight in Baganga, in Davao Oriental province, injured two soldiers and three villagers, including two children, caught in the cross fire, army Maj. Johnny Macanas said. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://www.utopia2000.org The NEW ProletarianNews --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
