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Manila / AFP
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday he planned to meet a fugitive Muslim rebel wanted over a deadly siege, promising to ignore an arrest order in an effort to forge peace.
The announcement was the latest dramatic attempt by the firebrand leader to end decades-long insurgencies with Muslim and communist rebels that have claimed more than 150,000 lives.
Duterte said he spoke on Tuesday to Nur Misuari, founder of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), one of the two major Muslim rebel groups based in the south of the mainly Catholic Philippines.
“I told him: ‘Nur, I have no intention of detaining you or putting you in the custody of the government. You can simply walk out there, ask any soldier and police to escort you to where we can talk’,” Duterte said.