COTABATO, Philippines, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines Muslim rebels on Thursday urged visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to convince Manila to resolve the decades-old rebellion problem in the volatile south.

    "Clinton can influence and convince the government for the early solution of the Mindanao conflict. When it happen, it will lead to peace and it would be advantage to al of us," Moro Islamic Liberation Front vice chair for political affairs Ghadzali Jaafar told Xinhua by phone.

    Jaafar, the second top official of the 11,900-powerful rebel group, also asked Clinton to visit the region to see the situation of people displaced by the fighting last year.

    Clinton will be in Manila from Nov. 12 to Nov. 13, before joining U.S. President Barack Obama in Singapore for the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' summit where he will make an inaugural appearance.

    "In the first place, she (Clinton) knows what's happening in Mindanao because from time to time she received updates from their Embassy in Manila. It would be good if she can visit also Mindanao region to look into people affected by hostilities," Jaafar said.

    This will be Clinton's first visit to the Philippines as U.S. Secretary of State where she will be making a courtesy call on President Macapagal-Arroyo and will meet with her Philippine counterpart, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo.

    Militant Muslim groups protested and raised question as to the real agenda of the Clinton's visit.

    Amirah Ali Lidasan, spokesperson of Suara Bangsamoro, called Clinton to keep her hands off Mindanao and bring home with her the600 U.S. soldiers permanently deployed in Mindanao.

    Lidasan said in a statement they believed that Clinton's visit will gloss over the Moro people's protest against the violations that the U.S. troops has committed against the Moro people in Sulu, Basilan, Zamboanga, Lanao and Maguindanao.

    As evidenced by the death of the two U.S. soldiers in Sulu in October 2009 and the testimony of Navy Lt. Nancy Gadian, Lidasan said U.S. soldiers have been actively directing and leading combat operations of Filipino soldiers in Mindanao that has resulted to the displacement of the residents and has endangered the lives of the civilians in areas targeted as Abu Sayyaf havens.

    She said the recent incident of which happened during a military operation in Indanan, Sulu that has resulted to the bombing of a mosque and displacement and wounding of civilians.

    "Clinton's visit will only continue to bolster the government's anti-terror measures that have violated the civil and political rights of Moro civilians in Mindanao," Lidasan said.

    "If the US military aid continues, the Philippine government will continue to arrest civilians without warrants, vilify religious leaders," she added.

    The peace talks between the government and the MILF collapsed in August 2008 after the Supreme Court stopped the signing, by the Philippine government and the MILF, of a memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain.

    The MOA-AD would have paved the way for the setting up of an autonomous state for the MILF composed of areas, which the rebel group had claimed as the Muslims' ancestral domain.

    Once signed, both sides are expected to work towards a final peace deal.