Jaafar said the team would stay for about a week to visit MILF camps

Rexcel Sorza, IOL Correspondent

ILOILO CITY , Philippines , March 4 (IslamOnline.net) – A Malaysian-led multinational team is due in Mindanao this month to verify compliance with the cease-fire agreements inked by the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

MILF vice chair for political affairs Ghazali Jaafar said they have been officially informed by the Malaysian government, which is also facilitating peace talks with Manila , that the monitoring team would be sent in March.

“It is true. The international monitoring team would come here anytime this month,” Jaafar told IslamOnline.net on Thursday, March 4.

This was agreed upon by the Philippine government and the MILF during the 5th exploratory talks, hosted by the Malaysian capital on February 19-20.

Jaafar said the team would stay for about a week to visit MILF camps, including Salman al-Farshi, Khalid Ibn al-Walid, Umar Ibn al-Khattab, Badre, Darapanan, Rajamuda, Salahuddin al-Ayyubi, Bilal and Bushrah Somiorang.

Representatives from other countries are expected to join the monitoring team to be deployed in key cities in Mindanao , such as Zamboanga, General Santos, Davao and Iligan, with Cotabato City as the headquarters.

Advance Team

Benjie Midtimbang, chair of the MILF Coordinating Committee on Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH), told IOL that a reconnaissance team will be sent by the Malaysian government at the soonest possible time, as an advance party for the multinational monitoring team.

He said the CCCH would prepare the ground for various calls by the team to ground troops in conflict-affected areas.

Midtimbang added that the Malaysian-led reconnaissance team is interested in visiting MILF major camps and communities.

As agreed, the reconnaissance team is expected to stay one week and will leave to report to its country of origin.

Meanwhile, local monitoring teams of the ceasefire committee will work around the clock to keep attuned to the upcoming deployment of multinational monitoring team.

Local monitoring teams were established in conflict-affected areas in Mindanao to help monitor the implementation and observance of the ceasefire agreement signed between the MILF and Manila on August 7, 2001 , in Malaysia .

As of today, at least 13 provinces and eight municipalities were listed as priority areas for the coverage of the local monitoring teams in Mindanao .

They are Maguindanao, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato , Sarangani, Davao Oriental, Compostela Valley , Lanao sur, Lanao Norte, Zamboanga Sur, Zamboanga Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay and Basilan.

The resumption of the formal peace negotiation of the MILF and the Philippine government would largely be determined by the findings of the multinational monitoring team.