MANILA, Nov 16 (Reuters) - The Philippines and the country's largest Muslim rebel group have agreed to allow a team of Swiss demining experts to recover tonnes of unexploded ordnance in conflict areas in the south, officials said on Friday. Rodolfo Garcia, a retired general and the government's chief peace negotiator, told Reuters the recovery of unexploded rounds of mortar, howitzer and aerial bombs was among issues the two sides had agreed in two days of talks in Malaysia this week. "Both sides agreed that these unexploded ordnance pose real dangers to civilians in Muslim communities in the south," Garcia said, adding the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) would also draft an agreement on the demining activities. Since 2004, a French non-government organisation and the Japanese embassy in Manila have provided artificial legs to hundreds of Muslims, including children, who were victims of these unexploded ordnance. Garcia said the Philippine military no longer used deadly anti-personnel mines after Manila ratified a U.N. convention banning them in 2000. Communist rebels continue to use improvised landmines. On Thursday, Manila and the MILF overcame a major hurdle in talks on a proposed ancestral homeland for 3 million Muslims in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic country in Southeast Asia. Garcia said he was confident of signing an agreement on ancestral domain with the MILF in January 2008, paving the way for a possible, historic final agreement in August. The 40-year-old conflict has killed more than 120,000 people. (Reporting by Manny Mogato; Editing by Carmel Crimmins and Sanjeev Miglani)
