Gov’t, MILF to meet in KL on monitors
Mindanao Bureau
First Posted 22:06:00 11/28/2008
Filed Under: Mindanao peace process, Foreign affairs & international relations
COTABATO CITY, Philippines -- Government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) officials have set a meeting in Kuala Lumpur to discuss the possible extension of the tour of the International Monitoring Team, a rebel official said Friday.
Mohagher Iqbal, MILF chief negotiator, said the continued presence of the IMT is vital in the wake of the collapse of peace negotiations between the separatist organization and the government.
Asked if the resumption of peace talks would be discussed during the meeting, the date of which he would not disclose, Iqbal said it was conceived mainly for the issue of the IMT tour of duty, which ends on November 30.
"Only matters related to the IMT will be discussed," Iqbal said.
The IMT was put together by the Organization of the Islamic Conference to prevent conflicts between the military and the MILF from getting out of control.
Since its inception in 2001, when the MILF and the government entered into a ceasefire agreement to facilitate the peace talks, the IMT had managed to prevent dozens of misunderstandings from turning into shooting conflicts.
"We acknowledge with gratitude the efforts shown by IMT members in preventing the possible escalation of war in Mindanao. Your mediation efforts to keep peace in Mindanao had paid off and it is regrettable that you have to leave," Rey Selana, head of the government's ceasefire committee, told members of the IMT.
Selana made the comment in a statement he issued during ceremonies on Friday marking the pullout of the last 12 members of the IMT from Malaysia, Libya, Japan and Indonesia.
"We hope that the IMT's presence will be extended," Iqbal said.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s adviser on the peace process, Hermogenes Esperon Jr., said that like the MILF, the government also wants the IMT to remain.
"We all know that the ceasefire arrangements with the IMT have worked wonders in the fragile if not difficult road to peace," Esperon said.
Armed Forces chief General Alexander Yano agreed with Esperon by saying the IMT was effective in preventing the recurrence of violence in conflict-torn areas in Mindanao.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Rais Yatim said in a statement that Kuala Lumpur was prepared to consider future participation in the IMT.
But Yatim said there has to be progress in the peace process first and a formal request should be submitted by both parties.
The peace talks were cancelled in August following a decision by the Supreme Court to stop the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain between the two parties, which led to a series of attacks by MILF rebels in Central Mindanao.
"Malaysia remains supportive of the peace process and hopes that the two sides opt for dialogue and negotiations in bringing about a peaceful solution in Mindanao," Rais said.
In Davao City, Malaysian Consul Mustafa Kamal urged peace groups to keep working for a peace formula "that will be acceptable to everybody until they lead to a peaceful solution to the conflict in Mindanao."
Adressing participants of the multi-sectoral Mindanao peace caravan, which had earlier traveled through Luzon and the Visayas, Kamal said peace could not be achieved without a national consensus.
"Peaceful solutions imposed by outsiders can never be sustained," he said.
Kamal said Kuala Lumpur has become increasingly interested in situations in neighboring countries because of its belief that it will eventually affect Malaysians.
"We're interested in areas surrounding Malaysia because we believe that when your neighbors are on fire, it won't also be long before our house will also catch fire," he said.
Gus Miclat, executive director of Initiatives for International Dialogue, said their call for a stop to the war in Mindanao has been gaining support from people in Luzon and the Visayas.
Miclat said that prior to the seven-day Luzon and Visayas legs of the caravan, they noticed that nobody was talking about the humanitarian crisis in Mindanao.
The 50-man caravan has changed that, he added.
"That there are 600,000 refugees in Datu Piang alone, nobody knows and nobody cares. They think it's normal, but it's not normal to the evacuees. That's why we launched this caravan to get people in the North to join us in this campaign, physically and otherwise," Miclat said.
The 50-member caravan has changed that.
Miclat said that after the Iloilo City campaign for example, people there have started to realize how grave the Mindanao problem has become.
"The Iloilo council and the Bacolod provincial government are coming up with a resolution calling for the government to stop the war and for peace talks to resume," Miclat added.
He said six people from the Cordillera and 11 from Iloilo City joined the caravan's journey home to Mindanao.
Among the 11 Ilonggos, Mark Cervantes, a member of the group Pax Christi based in Bacolod, was moved to see the evacuees in Datu Piang for the first time.
"The picture really is heartbreaking -- displaced Moro sisters and brothers living in makeshift tents not suited for humans," he said.
Jeoffrey Maitem, Charlie Señase and Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao
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