ILOILO CITY, Philippines, August 14 (IslamOnline.net) - The American mission which arrived in Mindanao to monitor the ongoing peace process and to know how they would be able to help in the negotiation is welcomed, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said Thursday, August 14.

“Maybe they are getting some background as there is (not) yet any peace talk. Maybe they are just monitoring (the) situation on the ground. And we find nothing wrong with that,” Eid Kabalu, MILF spokesperson told IslamOnline.net in a telephone interview August 14.

Kabalu said they “welcome the participation of United States of America provided their effort be confined to the backing up of GRP [Government of the Republic of the Philippines]-MILF peace talks mediated officially by Malaysia.”

Philippine Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. also welcomed the initiative of the United States government to help resolve the peace problem in the Muslim populated southern Philippines by sending a top-level mission to the country.

“It’s a good sign. It’s a manifestation that the U.S. is interested in brokering the peace talks,” Pimentel said in a statement sent to IOL August 14.

He added that the visit of the American mission, composed of seasoned diplomats, “is a clear indication that the U.S. intends to actively involve itself in the peace negotiations between the government and the MILF.”

The Philippine government and MILF have been laying the ground for the resumption of their peace talks being facilitated by Malaysia.

In her Presidential visit to the United States in May this year, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo came up with a joint statement with U.S. President George W. Bush wherein they said they want to see peace reign in Mindanao. Bush reportedly wanted to witness the signing of the peace agreement between the two camps on his state visit here in October.

Pimentel, who was once a city mayor of Cagayan de Oro in Mindanao, also said it is important that the United States play a “more substantial role” in efforts to bring about lasting peace in Mindanao in the light of setbacks that continue to derail the negotiations.

The U.S. delegation was sent by Washington to the Philippines to find out the exact role that the U.S. would assume in the peace process. This is in accordance with the formal offer of Bush to provide diplomatic and financial support to the search for peace in Mindanao.

Arab expert and veteran U.S. envoy to the Middle East Richard Murphy and soldier-diplomat Anthony Zinny, who has headed sensitive U.S. missions to conflict areas in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, lead the mission.

They are joined by Michael J. Yates, USAID mission director for the Philippines Eugene Martin, executive vice-president of the Washington-based U.S. Institute of Peace Harriet Hentges, and political counselor William Lucas and Vice Consul Cheryl Bodek of the U.S. Embassy in Manila.

Pimentel urged the Arroyo government to take advantage of the presence of the delegation to define the extent and nature of U.S. participation in the peace process.

Pimentel further suggested that the U.S. mission be tapped to enforce the mutual ceasefire, which he said has always been a weak point in the government-MILF peace process.

He said the U.S. involvement, as an honest peace broker for peace in Mindanao, is urgent so that the country can move forward in matters of economic development.

“We can hardly inch our way up in terms of the economy as a nation unless the Moro rebellion is settled once and for all in a reasonable, peaceful and democratic manner,” Pimentel said.

House of Representatives Speaker Jose de Venecia, on the other hand, said in a separate statement sent to IslamOnline.net that he was informed by the mission that the U.S. Congress has earmarked $30 million for a peace and development package for Mindanao that could be made available after the signing of a peace agreement between the government and the MILF.

The aid package is on top of the U.S.$74 million in United States Agency for International Development (USAID) program, more than $40 million of which have been funneled this year to the poorest areas of Mindanao.

Yates estimates that about $40 million in USAID programs are in Muslim areas of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao that have succeeded in creating more than 16,000 jobs for former rebels of the Moro National Liberation Front.

De Venecia said that the U.S. would also provide a program to extend assistance to Christians and the indigenous Lumad communities. These include agro-industrial programs and public works, health, and education projects.

The USAID announced last month that it would be pleased to provide assistance, similar to what it previously provided to former MNLF combatants, to help the parties in resolving the conflict to consolidate the peace process and chart a new future for the children of Mindanao.

It views peace as a factor that would encourage increased investment by the private sector and that will be most basic to the long-term development of Mindanao.