Muslim separatists in the Philippines warned today of an "impending crisis" in peace talks, blaming the government for Malaysia's planned pullout from an international peacekeeping mission here.

The rebels' leader accused Manila of "dilly-dallying" over an accord, after Malaysia said it would withdraw troops from the troubled Philippine island of Mindanao next month and expressed concern over the talks' slow progress.

"The Philippine government bears the responsibility to comply with its commitment to adhere to the consensus points and agreed Memorandum of Agreement draft proposal on Ancestral Domain," Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) leader Murad Ebrahim said in a statement.

The Philippine government and separatist rebels struck a deal last November on creating a Muslim homeland in the country's south, which was expected to lead to a peace accord, but further talks have fallen through.

The agreement calls for revenue-sharing with the government on Mindanao land the Muslims consider their ancestral domain.

Impending crisis

Murad Ebrahim warned of an "impending crisis in the peace process in Mindanao" island.

"If the peace process fails as a result of the (government's) dilly-dallying and spoiling, we are left with no choice but to seek other means of achieving our objective," he warned.

The government has denied it is behind the delays in the talks and said it will not be rushed into completing the peace accord.

The Malaysian military leads the small group of international monitors that has been monitoring a Mindanao ceasefire signed in 2004.

The team is tasked with monitoring violations of a truce between government forces and the 12,000-member MILF, the largest Muslim guerrilla group in the south, and have in the past succeeded in preventing tensions from escalating.

Manila has said it remains confident Malaysia, which has been hosting the peace talks, will still play a key role in the peace process, and stressed that efforts were being made to bring the negotiations back on track.