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Arroyo orders ceasefire
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PHILIPPINE President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, declaring it was time to “heal and build", ordered yesterday the suspension of military operations against Muslim separatists to clear the way for a resumption of stalled peace talks.
However, she said there would not be a withdrawal of government forces.
Arroyo, catapulted to the presidency last month by a “people power" revolt that ousted Joseph Estrada, said the halt in military offensive against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) would enable more than 200,000 people displaced by the fighting in the south of the country to return to their homes “and repair their shattered lives".
Her decision was intended “to lay the proper environment for the reconstruction of peace talks," she said. “Let us heal and build but above all let us be one."
Arroyo urged the MILF to reciprocate her gesture “by positive moves in the same direction".(SD-Agencies)
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