Cotabato City - The peace panels of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have agreed to extend to another three months the tour of duty of the International Monitoring Team (IMT).
The tour of duty of the IMT was supposed to end Sunday.
Mohagher Iqbal, MILF chief negotiator, said in an interview upon his arrival from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where he met government chief negotiator Ret. Gen. Rodolfo Garcia, that the peace negotiators did not amend any provision of the Terms of Reference for the stay of the IMT in Mindanao.
"We just agreed to extend their tour of duty for another three months," he said in an interview.
The past three sets of IMT contingents in Mindanao all had a year of ceasefire monitoring work defined in their TOR.
Iqbal said that the Malaysian government agreed to only a three-month extension, as they are yet to reportedly observe the recent developments.
Government forces and rogue MILF guerrillas have been fighting in the provinces of Maguindanao, North Cotabato and Lanao del Norte since early August. The skirmishes displaced thousands of people. The fierce armed encounters happened after the aborted signing of the MOA-AD on August 5.
Iqbal said that the extension was decided during a meeting on August 27 and 28 when he and Garcia went to Malaysia to convince the Malaysian government to agree on extending the tour of duty of the remaining 26 IMT members here.
Aside from the remaining 26 here, Iqbal said that the Malaysian government has agreed to send back the other team members who were ordered to return home earlier. "Not all those sent home will be sent back here," he said.
The Malaysian government reportedly asked both the government and the MILF to stop the ongoing fighting in Mindanao as requisite for the continued presence of peace monitors in the country.
However, upon his arrival, Iqbal said he was met with reports that 12 houses of Muslim civilians were allegedly burned by soldiers around 11:30 a.m. on August 30 at Elian village, Datu Saudi Ampatuan town, Maguindanao. Romy Elusfa
Source: http://www.gmanews.tv (August 31, 2008)
