MANILA — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday asked his Cabinet to work on a ceasefire with Maoist rebels in order to resume peace negotiations, four months after he called off talks and vowed to crush the insurgents. Duterte had campaigned in 2016 on a promise to end the nearly 50-year Maoist rebellion, which has killed more than 40,000 people, by finding a political solution but he abandoned peace efforts in November complaining of repeated rebel attacks. On Wednesday, he revived the idea of talks. “Let’s give this another last chance,” Jesus Dureza, a presidential adviser on the peace process, said in a statement, citing Duterte. The president had told his government “to work on the resumption of peace talks” and stressed the importance of first “forging a ceasefire agreement to stop mutual attacks and fighting while talks are underway”, Dureza said. The government and the communists’ political wing, the National Democratic Front, have been in on-again, off-again negotiations since 1986. Norway has brokered some talks. The communist insurgency has stunted economic development in several resource-rich provinces, just as Muslim separatist rebellions have plagued large parts of the south of the Catholic-majority country. The defense ministry and the military said in separate statements, they would support the resumption of talks provided the rebels agreed to a truce and to stop extortion. Meanwhile, Duterte again launched a foul-mouthed attack on the UN human rights chief, calling him “empty-headed” in a row over international criticism of the Philippine leader’s deadly drug war. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, had last month said Duterte needed “psychiatric evaluation” and that his verbal attacks on a United Nations rapporteur who condemned his anti-drug crackdown could not go unanswered. Duterte, 73, has launched curse-laden tirades on world leaders, including former US President Barack Obama and Pope Francis, as well as critics of his anti-crime crackdown. Duterte won a presidential election in mid-2016 after promising to eradicate drugs in society within six months by killing tens of thousands of users and dealers. Philippine police say they have killed roughly 4,100 suspects who fought back during arrest, but rights groups allege the actual number is three times higher and accuse the authorities of murder. The International Criminal Court has launched a “preliminary examination” into killings in the anti-drug campaign. Zeid, who has criticized alleged extrajudicial killings in the drug war, last month said Duterte’s remarks about a UN rapporteur seeking to investigate the matter were “absolutely disgraceful”. — Agencies