MANILA: The Philippine government said Tuesday it expected peace talks with the country's largest Muslim separatist group to resume after the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Both sides were hammering out "the scope and parameters of the talks" aimed at ending the Moro Islamic Liberation Front's 31-year separatist insurgency, Manila's chief negotiator, Avelino Razon, told AFP.

"We will have something very positive to announce after Ramadan," Razon said. "We are just awaiting word from the Malaysian government as to the actual (date) of the resumption of peace talks."

Malaysia, an influential member of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, had been brokering and hosting the peace talks between the two sides until August last year, when the government suspended the negotiations.

Muslims in the Philippines celebrate the end of Ramadan on Monday next week, although Razon did not say how soon afterwards the talks were expected to start.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu also told AFP by telephone from his base in Mindanao that the group remained committed to the talks.

"We are hopeful that something will happen before (President Gloria) Arroyo steps down," next year, Kabalu said, confirming that both sides were "working out the terms and reference" for the next round of talks.

The previous round was halted last year after two senior MILF commanders launched coordinated attacks across several mostly Christian towns and provinces on Mindanao island in the southern Philippines.

They did so after the Supreme Court rejected a proposed deal granting the rebels control over their so-called "ancestral domain" that covers more than 700 towns and villages.

In the ensuing year of fighting between the two sides in Mindanao, more than 300 civilians and combatants died and about 750,000 people were displaced in what aid agencies called a humanitarian crisis.

But a ceasefire has been in place since July and Razon said the MILF's honouring of that "was a very positive indication of their commitment to the talks".

To accommodate the MILF, Razon said the government may opt to amend a law to expand the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.

The autonomous region was established after a 1996 peace agreement between the government and the Moro National Liberation Front, a former rebel group from which the MILF split in 1978.