Al haj Murad Ebrahim said the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) had asked Malaysia, which has been hosting talks since 2001, to help move the negotiations forward after the rebels rejected Manila's peace proposal last month.

"We feel there is no point of discussion between the two panels," Murad told a news conference at the MILF base on the southern island of Mindanao, confirming Manila's invitation for another round of talks next week in Kuala Lumpur.

He said further delays in the talks could increase the risks on the entire peace process, giving radicals within the rebel movement enough reason to reject negotiations and fight for an independent and separate Islamic state in the south.

Still, Murad said the ceasefire between government forces and the MILF's guerrilla units would hold for now, saying that while both proposals were far apart, there was a desire for a solution.

The conflict has killed 120,000 people, displaced 2 million and hobbled growth in resource-rich but poor Muslim communities in the south of the largely Catholic state in Southeast Asia.