MANILA: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday that the time was ripe for the Philippines to finally seal a peace deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) with barely six months left in the Arroyo presidency. Clinton urged both sides to broker an agreement before the end of President Arroyo’s term in June next year.

She warned the negotiating environment could change under a new administration.

“The conditions for peace are ripe. People really want to see it. I hope no one misses this opportunity,” Clinton told a nationally televised public forum of the ANC a day after discussing the issue with Mrs Arroyo and other top officials. Clinton recommitted her government’s support in helping negotiate a deal with the MILF, which has been waging a separatist rebellion in Mindanao since 1978. Clinton also clarified that US forces in Mindanao were never involved in direct combat operations.

“In respect to the conflict in Mindanao, we have provided training and assistance but not involvement in combat by US forces. It is a facilitating and support role to fight those who disrupt communities to engage in terrorist activities, but unfortunately the kinds of horrible acts like beheading and kidnapping are so contrary to every religion, contrary to every faith,” she said.

In urging quick action for a peace deal with the MILF, Clinton recalled that her husband Bill Clinton was close to sealing a Middle East peace agreement near the end of his time as US president. But she said then-Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had put this off, thinking he could get a better deal from Bill Clinton’s successor. None came. “So strike while the iron is hot, when people are in the mood and willing to make peace. Do not sleep, do not rest until we finally get there,” Clinton told a crowd of students at the University of Santo Tomas during the televised forum. Clinton said she believed Mrs. Arroyo was “fully prepared” to make the difficult decisions necessary to achieve peace with the MILF.

“What I have often found is that it is easier to make these difficult decisions when you are on the way out of office. Because you know what is at stake and you are willing to brave the political fires,” she said. The Philippine government and the MILF signed a new ceasefire in July, 11 months after long-running peace talks were derailed by a series of deadly guerrilla attacks in Central Mindanao.