UN suspends operation in S Philippines due to terror attacks
COTABATO. July 8. KAZINNFORM The spate of bombings in the southern Philippines that killed eight people and injured 100 others forced the United Nation's World Food Program to suspend their operation in the restive area, a UN-WFP official said on Wednesday, Kazinform refers to Xinhua.
U.N. World Food Program acting director Alghassim Wurie told Xinhua by phone a notice from their head office in Geneva directed them to suspend their operation for a week in Mindanao due to terror attacks that hit the region since Sunday.
The UN-WFP is scheduled to distribute relief to people displaced in the ongoing fighting between government security forces and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the region.
The WFP, the world's largest humanitarian agency, aims to feed around 100 million people in 77 countries this year.
Peace talks between the Philippine government and the 11,800-member MILF collapsed in August 2008 after the two sides failed to sign an agreement on ancestral domain, prompting some rebel commanders to launch deadly attacks on Christian communities in Mindanao.
Ancestral domain refers to the MILF's demand for territory that will constitute a Muslim homeland.
It is the last remaining hurdle for a final political settlement that is expected to end the four decades of Muslim insurgency that has claimed more than 120,000 lives. Once signed, both sides are expected to work towards a final peace deal that would include plans for the future of the MILF rebels, Kazinform cites Xinhua. See www.chinaview.cn for full version.