|
COTABATO CITY: Australian diplomats met key leaders
of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Thursday at Camp
Darapanan, the rebel’s jungle base camp in Shariff Kabunsuan,
where they personally conveyed Australia’s interest in playing a
direct role in the peace process, a rebel official said in a report
by the Philippine News Agency.
MILF chief negotiator Mohaqher
Iqbal said in a telephone interview Friday that while there, Stephen
Scott, Minster and Deputy Head of Mission of the Australian Embassy
based in Manila, expressed Australia’s concern in implementing
more peace and development works once the government and MILF ink a
peace treaty next year.
Scott was accompanied by Russell
Swinnerton, Senior Analyst of the Southeast Asian Branch in
Australia’s Office for National Assessment; Titon Mitra, Minister
Counselor of the Australian Development Agency; and Mathew Harrison,
Third Secretary of the Australian Embassy in Manila.
Australia has been providing
support to development projects in war-torn areas of the Autonomous
Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and other parts of Mindanao on
efforts to bolster peace initiatives in the south as initiated by
the Arroyo administration.
“We discussed with them updates
of the peace process. They told us that they are willing to work on
capability-building programs and development projects through the
AusAID after the closure of the negotiations,” Iqbal said.
“Australia is hoping for the
immediate conclusion of the peace talks. Everybody wants an end but
we are not in a hurry because the agenda of our upcoming meeting in
Kuala Lumpur would be the political settlement,” he added.
The MILF earlier hinted that a
final peace agreement with the government might be signed on or
before the August 2008 elections in the ARMM as government and rebel
negotiators managed to overcome the sticky issue of the territorial
composition of the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity.
The territory issue was the
biggest stumbling block to the signing of a peace agreement between
the government and the Moro rebels, and had caused a deadlock in the
talks.
Negotiations between the MILF and
the government are expected to resume mid-December.
“Our foreign visitors also
expressed interest in joining the Malaysian-led International
Monitoring Team [IMT]. It would be decided by both panels and
Malaysia as the mediating third party,” Iqbal said.
The IMT is a body created by the
Organization of the Islamic Conference to oversee the implementation
of the ceasefire agreement between the military and the rebels.
To date, only Japan and Canada
that are non OIC-members have been allowed to become part of the IMT.
The latter’s inclusion in the IMT was approved last month.
Japan’s role in the IMT is
focused on the socio-economic aspect of the peace process while
Canada said it would help develop governance.
Canada, for its part, contributed
at least C$18 million in bilateral assistance to the Philippines
each year and a total of C$22 million a year on total development
assistance.
About 65 percent of the total aid
is for Mindanao alone.
|
