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MILF calls for UN-supervised independence vote

MANILA: The chief of the Philippines' biggest Islamic group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), has called for a U.N.-organised independence vote for Muslims in the country's south, but President Joseph Estrada vowed never to bow to separatists.

Salamat Hashim, chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), said in a taped interview aired on Sunday the vote could be "like what was done in East Timor," the former Indonesian-ruled territory which last year voted for independence in a U.N.-supervised referendum.

"Any referendum should be, if we want a real referendum, a real result conducted by a third party, most likely, if possible, the United Nations," Salamat said from MILF headquarters on the southern island of Mindanao, site of a 28-year Islamic separatist war.

But Estrada, speaking to graduating cadets of the Philippine Military Academy, said he would not give in to any separatist demands.

"I ask you to join today in our quest for peace," Estrada told the cadets. "It may be dearly won but we shall not allow misguided spirits to bring havoc to the integrity of our Republic," Estrada said in northern Baguio city.

Estrada said the government wanted peace and "those who threaten the stability of our established democratic order" must not mistake this for weakness.

Salamat's call comes just over a week after clashes in which the military said it killed more than 100 freedom fighters. The MILF said it lost seven.

A smaller freedom fighter group, the Abu Sayyaf, last week abducted more than 70 students and teachers on Basilan island, near Mindanao. It has freed 41 of them but still holds 33, negotiators said.

The latest fighting occurred during a break in peace talks between Manila and the MILF.

Muslims number about five million out of the Philippines' more than 70 million people.

They regard Mindanao, 800 (500 miles) south of Manila, where the bulk of them live, as their ancestral homeland.

Salamat urged Manila to agree to a referendum in five Mindanao provinces where Muslims are in the majority -- Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi Tawi.

All inhabitants in those areas, including Christians, would be asked to choose between autonomy and independence, he said.

Salamat said rebellion would not solve the conflict.

"That is why we are demanding the Philippine government to pave the way for democratic processes this means referendum. Ask the (Muslim) people what they want," he said.

More than 120,000 people are estimated to have died in the 28-year separatist movement.

The military estimates MILF strength at 16,000 men and that of the Abu Sayyaf at more than 1,000. Salamat said he had 80,000 men.-Reuters