Malaysia to extend peacekeepers in RP
by David Chance and Manny Mogato, Reuters | 08/28/2008 4:27 PM
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KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia said on Thursday it would keep its peace monitors in the violence-torn southern Philippines for another three months after appeals from both Manila and the country's biggest Muslim rebel group.
The decision came after Philippine officials and negotiators from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) met in Kuala Lumpur for the first time since violence flared in the southern Philippines earlier this month, killing nearly 200 people.
"Malaysia has acceded to the government of the Philippines request for an extension of IMT (International Monitoring Team). A three-month period is a reasonable time to bring together the peace process," Malaysia's foreign ministry said in a statement.
The long-running rebellion by Muslim insurgents in the south of the Christian-majority Philippines has prevented any significant development of some of the richest mineral and hydrocarbon resources in Southeast Asia.
Malaysia has been brokering talks between the two sides since 2001 and in May began a phased withdrawal of its peacekeepers from the Philippines south citing the lack of progress in the peace talks. It now has 12 soldiers on the team, down from 41.
There was no indication if the MILF and Philippine government negotiators had talked of anything other than agreeing on the request for Malaysia to extend its peacekeeping role beyond Aug. 31, when its mandate was due to expire.
"We did not discuss any changes in the roles and composition of the parties involved in the IMT," Mohaqher Iqbal, the MILF chief peace negotiator, told Reuters. "We valued the work of the IMT in preventing the conflict from getting out of hand."
Hermogenes Esperon, the Philippine president's peace adviser, told ambassadors of Muslim nations in Manila earlier this week that the government has also asked 10 countries, including some Western states, to contribute to the peace monitoring team led by Malaysia.
The monitoring team has been in place in strife-torn areas of Mindanao island since October 2004 and helped cut down skirmishes between troops and Muslim rebels from 700 incidents in 2002 to less than a dozen in 2007.
A peace deal between Manila and the MILF fell apart earlier this month when the Philippine Supreme Court halted an agreement between the two on expanding an autonomous Muslim region and giving it wide powers.
Some MILF guerrillas went on the rampage in anger prompting the Philippines military to launch operations against them.
The military said nearly 200 people were killed in 10 days of fighting, and close to 400,000 people fled to safety from areas in the battle zone.
The government rejected calls on Thursday to suspend operations against the guerrillas during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which starts next week.
"A total ceasefire is unacceptable," Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro told reporters at the main army base in Manila. "We have a law to uphold here. The enforcement of law is neutral on religion.
The unarmed monitors also include 10 soldiers from Brunei, two Libyan diplomats and a Japanese development worker.
