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MILF Sign Agreement Ensuring Ceasefire Respected in Philippines
JAKARTA, Oct 19 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) signed an agreement Thursday aimed at safeguarding a ceasefire threatened by weeks of renewed hostilities in the south of the country.
The pact was signed in Malaysia where the two warring factions are still locked in negotiations. This is the third time the MILF and Philippines authorities are meeting in Malaysia.
The document, which details the functions and powers of joint monitoring teams, was signed minutes after the Philippine government and the MILF began fresh talks on ending three decades of violence in Mindanao province.
Jesus Dureza, the chief government negotiator, told reporters that the accord empowers monitoring teams to take "pro-active action" to prevent further violations of a truce reached with the MILF two months ago.
The MILF recently criticized the army saying they had violated the truce signed in August. The Philippines army is said not to be favorable to the truce, which claims the government will return captured "camps" to the MILF.
According to documents signed Thursday, the government and the MILF will each contribute an equal number of members to a committee supervising the cessation of hostilities, and to smaller localize monitoring teams. These groups will start their work once negotiators return to the Philippines this weekend.
At the opening ceremony of the peace talks Thursday, Murad Ebrahim, the MILF's chief negotiator, urged Malaysia, Indonesia and Libya, to send an independent monitoring team to Mindanao on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).
"With the alarming developments now going on in other parts of the world, particularly the U.S.-led war on Afghanistan, our mission and task to arrive at a comprehensive political resolution of the conflict in the [southern Philippines] should now indeed be the primordial concern of all parties," Murad said.
Dureza said both sides have accused one other of repeatedly violating the ceasefire, but that the truce was generally still holding.
"There were some events that happened ... [but] there has been no escalation of these events and so we look forward to further strengthening the ceasefire," he said.
The current round of talks, being held on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, now turn to the rehabilitation and development of impoverished Mindanao, and the possible return of Muslim ancestral territorial rights.
Both sides have expressed optimism that an agreement on these aspects could be reached by Saturday, when talks are expected to finish.
The government and the MILF signed a ceasefire accord in Malaysia two months ago in an effort to end the conflict, which has killed more than 120,000 people.
Meanwhile, Ebrahim warned Wednesday that any U.S. involvement in the campaign against the Abu Sayyaf would complicate peace efforts because it would increase tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims in the area.
The United States is helping the Philippines train and supply weapons to some of the 7,000 Filipino soldiers pursuing the Abu Sayyaf. The Abu Sayyaf has a small army of around 1,000 soldiers, heavily armed and permanently on the run.
With additional reporting by Kazi Mahmood
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