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Malaysia’s Chief of Army, Gen. Dato’ Sri Abdul
Aziz Zainal, said on Thursday in a press conference that his country
will remain committed to pushing for peace in troubled Mindanao
despite a scheduled pull out of its peacekeeping monitors.
“As far as Malaysia is
concerned, we are not abandoning the peace process in the south
[Philippines],” visiting military chief Gen. Abdul Aziz Zainal
said.
“Malaysia will continue to take
on the commitment,” said Aziz, before meet with his contingent in
southern Mindanao to discuss their impending withdrawal in
September.
Malaysia has led an international
team tasked with monitoring a truce between Manila and the
12,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which has waged
a bloody campaign for a separate Muslim homeland since 1978.
The team also includes
peacekeepers from Muslim nations Libya and Brunei as well as
observers from Japan. The International Monitoring Team (IMT) also
includes Canada.
Aziz said his government was
negotiating a possible redeployment under a new “format” that
may see a limited number of Malaysian forces remain in the
Philippines.
The presence of the international
monitors in Mindanao has led to a drop in the number of clashes,
from 589 incidents in 2004 to only 15 violations last year, Armed
Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr.
said.
Aziz insisted the truce would
hold following the Malaysian pull out. But MILF leaders have warned
of possible fresh violence.
“We are very confident that the
situation will continue to improve,” Aziz said.
Malaysian officials had earlier
cited an impasse in peace talks between the MILF and the government
as a reason for the withdrawal.
In a major breakthrough, both
parties last year signed an agreement to create a Muslim homeland in
the south. But the talks bogged down amid disputes over economic
control of areas covered under the so-called “ancestral domain.”
Filipino officials optimistic
Defense Secretary Gilberto
Teodoro Jr. also said earlier that the planned pull out of the
Malaysians from the IMT would affect the peace process but peace in
Mindanao could still be achieved and peace talks between the
government and the MILF can still be successful.
Executive Secretary Eduardo
Ermita said the administration will seek an extension of the
monitoring team’s tour of duty.
Malaysia’s Foreign Minister
Datuk Seri Dr. Rais Yatim had said Kuala Lumpur will not be sending
truce observers to Mindanao anymore after the mandate of its current
team ends in September.
Members of the Malaysian Defense
Forces had been in Mindanao since 2004 to lead the monitoring team,
composed of 41 officers from the Malaysian Defense Forces, the Royal
Malaysia Police and the Prime Minister’s Department. It is also
supported by 10 military officers from Brunei Darussalam and five
from Libya. Canada and Japan also have members in the IMT.
Esperon also dismissed the
possibility that violence may erupt in Mindanao as a result of the
Malaysian pull out.
Esperon added that from what he
had heard from his commanders in Mindanao, local residents,
including the MILF, want peace in Mindanao.
“If we would make this as a
basis for predicting any violence, then we would say that the people
in the area have greater preference for peace rather than for
violence,” Esperon said.
Before the planned pull out was
made known to the government, Malaysia reportedly demanded major
developments in the talks with the MILF.
The monitoring team officers
announced in February that it is not inclined to extend its tour of
duty unless some concrete development in the ongoing negotiations
develops.
--AFP, Jefferson Antiporda and Angelo
Samonte
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