Philippine president asks exiled Maoist leader to return home for talks
MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Thursday he had invited a self-exiled Communist rebel leader home for “make or break” peace talks, and would let him leave the country afterwards, despite moves to declare him a terrorist. Philippines communist party founder Jose Maria Sison, 68, poses in front of a poster of the National Democratic Front (NDF), the political arm of the Maoist rebels, in Utrecht July 16, 2007. REUTERS/Michael Kooren/Files Before becoming president, Duterte promised to revive a stuttering peace process to end nearly five decades of conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people. But that effort has been fraught with problems and he abandoned talks in November, complaining of duplicity and repeated rebel attacks. On Thursday, Duterte said he had invited Jose Maria Sison, founder and leader of the Communist Party of the Philippines, to return after three decades in exile to restart the stalled negotiations. “He has agreed,