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First Posted on Inside Mindanao (www.insidemindanao.com) on November 30, 2008
Tour of duty of Mindanao peace monitoring body ends
By Baikong Mamid
COTABATO CITY—Today, November 30, is the end of the tour of duty of the International Monitoring Team (IMT), a peace monitoring body in Mindanao.
The tour of duty of the peacekeepers from Malaysia, Brunei, Libya, and Japan was anchored on the condition that the Philippine Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panels would reach a just resolution to the Bangsamoro homeland.
Hermogenes Esperon, Jr., the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process, asked, through the Department of Foreign Affairs, for a 3–month extension of the tour of duty of the IMT members from Malaysia, Brunei, Libya, and Japan.
In a statement, the Government of Malaysia said it is "suspending its participation in the IMT upon expiry of its mandate [up to November 30, 2008]." To date, no word of response yet from the governments of Brunei, Libya, and Japan.
Last November 28, IMT members made an exit call to the Office of the Vice Chairman for Political Affairs of the MILF in Sultan Kudarat, Shariff Kabunsuan.
Mohagher Iqbal, chairman of the MILF Peace Negotiating Panel, on his closing remarks during the farewell call of the IMT, said that the MILF is keen on the extension of the tour of duty of IMT in Mindanao.
However, Mr. Iqbal said there are relevant issues that need to be resolved by the Philippine Government and MILF.
When IMT first came in to oversee the situation in Mindanao after the 2003 all—out—war, from more than 500 recorded armed fightings between the government and MILF troops, the number went down sharply to 16 in 2004; and an average of 10 recorded skirmishes from 2005—2007.
The recent escalation in violence, particularly in the provinces of Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat, North Cotabato, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, and Saranggani, followed after the Philippine Supreme Court decided to block the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement between the Philippine Government and the MILF in August this year. The agreement was supposed to be part of the ongoing peace process to halt the four–decade conflict between the Bangsamoro and the Philippine Government.
The aborted signing triggered escalation of hostilities and violence between the forces of the MILF and the government which displaced and affected about 600,000 civilians for four months already.
Civilians affected by the armed clashes are living in very poor conditions. Many evacuees stay in evacuation camps; other evacuees stay with relatives.
END