Inside, Murad Ibrahim's bookish appearance and gentle voice belie his status as the head of the country's largest Moro rebel group and one of the country's most powerful men.

"We are solid," Murad says during an interview, expressing certainty that he has the full support of his at least 12,000 fighters.

Shows of unity are more important than ever for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) as it returns to peace talks with the government in Kuala Lumpur after a three-year break and tries to shake off allegations that its camps are training grounds for militants.

But deepening divisions within the MILF between moderates and Middle East-influenced radicals could turn out to be one of the biggest obstacles to ending the 30-year-old conflict.

The risk is that the MILF may splinter if its leadership signs a peace deal that falls short

of the long-cherished goal of independence for Muslim-majority areas, leaving Mindanao stuck in conflict and poverty.

"I think the MILF is having a lot of trouble in their own ranks," said Zachary Abuza, a professor at Boston's Simmons College and expert on the Mindanao conflict.

"There's growing radicalism within the MILF that's scaring the older generation. At the same time, the general population -- their constituency -- is getting really war-weary," he said.

Division

Division in the MILF helps explain why it has found it so difficult to address international concerns about its links with militant groups such as Southeast Asia's Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).

Analysts say individual commanders may have kept links with the al-Qaeda-linked JI, which has been blamed for a string of attacks in Southeast Asia, including the 2002 bombings of nightclubs on Indonesia's Bali island, without the MILF leadership's permission.

Despite expressing confidence in his group's unity, Murad voiced concern that the older generation may not be able to control a younger, more radical breed of MILF fighters for much longer.

"What we are afraid of is that the younger generation will replace the older generation of leaders and because they are more involved in the war, the possibility of them turning radical is very, very high," he said on Saturday.

Power struggle

Murad, 54, is deeply respected within the MILF, but is seen as more moderate than his predecessor, charismatic preacher Salamat Hashim who died of a heart attack last year.

In Kidapawan City, a group perceived to be siding with the MILF yesterday warned the rebel organization against rushing a final peace deal with the government.

Nashreen Pangadapun, secretary general of the Maradeka (Liberation), said history might repeat itself if the MILF signed an accord.

In the early '80s, Salamat, then deputy chair of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), founded the MILF with other ranking leaders because of the perception that MNLF chair Nur Misuari was veering away from their original demand of independence for the Bangsamoro.

In 1996, Misuari signed a peace deal with the administration of President Fidel Ramos and accepted the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao as a political settlement while the MILF continued to wage war against the government.

"Should a negotiated peace agreement be signed in the fashion the leaders of the MNLF did, another fundamentalist Moro group might sprout out of the MILF," Pangadapun said.

More radical

He said the new group would be more radical. "Our fear is that Murad is losing his influence over his people. That his (leadership) is getting weak and if that will continue the radicals will lord it over the leaders of the MILF," he said.

Pangadapun said some MILF leaders were already wary that Murad was becoming another Misuari.

"Their fear is that Murad will sign an agreement which is not reflective of the political aspiration of the Bangsamoro people," the Maradeka leader said.

Murad earlier said peace in Mindanao was "within our grasp" and that the MILF was "ready to sign with the government a negotiated political solution that is just, lasting and comprehensive in order to terminate the age-old conflict in Mindanao."

"The most civilized and practical way to solve the Moro problem is through a negotiated political settlement," Murad said.

Pangadapun said the agreement, which could largely be based on the government's draft proposal, could leave the Bangsamoro people with a sense of loss.

"The peace accord might not be very comprehensive ... (and) would not satisfy the desire of the people to put up a genuine self-governance," Pangadapun said.

Malaysian monitors

Murad has welcomed the arrival of Malaysian ceasefire monitors who are helping to end a bitter and lengthy conflict with government forces. The Malaysian team arrived in the Philippines on Saturday and were formally deployed in key areas in Mindanao yesterday.

MILF spokesperson Eid Kabalu said there was a good possibility that the 51-man contingent would visit Mt. Kararao, alleged lair of some 60 JI terrorists purportedly being coddled by some members of the rebel group.

"It's not in the itinerary but the peace monitors could always decide to go there if they see the need," Kabalu told the Inquirer.

He said the United States and Australia should also participate in the inspection if only to "once and for all put to rest allegations that the MILF is coddling JI terrorists."

Murad said there would be no peace with Manila if sections in the military remained intent on fanning allegations that the MILF sheltered militants from JI.

"Frankly, we feel there are people in government who don't want peace in Mindanao," Murad said, stressing that while President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo appeared sincere in negotiating, unnamed officials could be "manipulating the situation."

"This kind of position ruins the confidence-building process and disrupts the negotiations," he said.

US involvement

Continuing allegations about the JI may be designed to get the US military involved in Mindanao, a scenario that could cause further bloodshed, he warned.

Murad said that after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001, the MILF closed all its camps in Mindanao to foreigners.

However, he admitted that in the past, Islamic scholars from the Middle East and even Europe and the United States were "ordinary visitors" to Camp Abubakar, once the MILF's main stronghold in Mindanao.