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Gov't, communist rebels start peace talks after truce

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Reuters

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/news-special1/nation/06/15/061516-ndf.jpg"/></figure></div><h3>&#x27;This conflict has lasted far too long,&#x27; says Norway&#x27;s foreign minister</h3>OSLO - The Philippine government and Maoist-led guerrillas opened peace talks in Oslo on Monday to try and end nearly five decades of conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people.Both sides, who agreed a truce over the weekend, sat facing each other in the Holmenkollen Park Hotel&#x27;s &quot;Nobel&quot; room, named after the Nobel Peace Prize, with photographs of former winners including the Dalai Lama on the walls.&quot;This is a conflict that has been lasting for far too long,&quot; Norwegian Foreign Minister Boerge Brende told the meeting, saying there now seemed to be a &quot;historic momentum&quot; building to end the conflict.&quot;I&#x27;m really crossing my fingers,&quot; for progress, he told the parties, each represented by six negotiators.Talks brokered by Norway between the government and the Maoist-led rebels&#x27; National Democratic Front (NDF) stalled in 2012 over the government&#x27;s refusal to free communist leaders who had been in jail for decades.Both sides declared a truce at the weekend to pave the way for the week-long talks in Oslo. Last week, Manila also freed 17 captured communist guerrilla leaders in the Philippines so they could attend the talks in Norway.President Rodrigo Duterte had previously ended a unilateral truce with the communist New People&#x27;s Army late last month as rebels did not respond to a deadline to reciprocate the government&#x27;s truce.The 3,000-strong New People&#x27;s Army, the armed wing of the communist party, operates mainly in the eastern and southern regions of the country.

OSLO - The Philippine government and Maoist-led guerrillas opened peace talks in Oslo on Monday to try and end nearly five decades of conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people.

OSLO - The Philippine government and Maoist-led guerrillas opened peace talks in Oslo on Monday to try and end nearly five decades of conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people.