Zamboanga City - Malaysian truce observers deployed in southern Philippines are threatening to pull out unless peace talks between the Philippines and Muslim rebels resume.
The observers belong to the International Monitoring Team (IMT) overseeing the ceasefire between soldiers and insurgents in Mindanao.
Maj. Gen. Datuk Mat Yassin bin Mat Daud, head of the Malaysian contingent, said on Wednesday that they would return home by August if no agreement was forged between the Philippine government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels, who are fighting for a separate Islamic state in the war-torn but mineral-rich region of Mindanao.
Peace talks were suspended last year after government and rebel negotiators failed to agree on the scope of the Muslims` ancestral domain, the single most important issue in the negotiations that has to be resolved before the MILF agrees to a political settlement.
The ancestral domain covers the whole of the Muslim autonomous region, which comprises five provinces, and other areas in Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani provinces, where there are large communities of Muslims and indigenous tribes. It also includes Palawan Island in central Philippines, and the Sulu archipelago.
The government of President Gloria Arroyo sat for peace talks with the MILF in 2001, but since then no substantial agreements have been signed between the two sides, except for the ceasefire accord.
“I doubt very much that IMT will stay in Mindanao [if no agreement is signed by then],” the Malaysian general said over a fellowship dinner hosted by Mayor Muslimin Sema of Cotabato City on Tuesday.
Yassin was referring to the International Monitoring Team, which is composed of 41 officers from the Malaysian Defense Forces, the Royal Malaysian Police, and the Prime Minister`s Department. The team is supported by 10 military officers from Brunei Darussalam and five from Libya. Japan also has a member in the team.
Malaysia, an influential member of the Organization of Islamic Conference, is brokering the peace talks between Manila and the MILF, but it had threatened to pull out its contingent from the monitoring team if the negotiations remain stalled.
Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said they wanted progress in the peace talks. The Malaysian truce observers have been in Mindanao the past three years.
Since the International Monitoring Team arrived, fighting between security and rebel forces has drastically decreased from 698 armed clashes in 2004 to just seven incidents last year.
The MILF earlier warned that hostilities may erupt in Mindanao if the peace talks fail or if Malaysia withdraws its truce observers from the monitoring team in Mindanao. The southern region is home to 16 million, including four million Muslims.
Source: www.manilatimes.net (17 Januari 2008)
