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COTABATO CITY: The decision of Malaysia to pull out
from the 60-man International Monitoring Team (IMT) in Mindanao is
final and only a profound agreement between the governments of the
Philippines and Malaysia in the future could alter such conclusion,
reported the Philippine News Agency over the weekend.
Malaysian Defense Chief Gen. Tan
Sri Abdulaziz, who arrived here Saturday together with Armed Forces
of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon
Jr., said the gradual pullout of the IMT members would commence from
May 10 and end August 10 this year.
Abdulaziz also briefly visited
top leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Camp
Darapanan situated in the jungles of Sultan Kudarat, Shariff
Kabunsuan, and discussed the matter with them.
The Malaysian-led IMT, whose main
headquarters are based in this city, comprises military and police
peace monitors from Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Libya, Japan and
Canada.
The IMT has been very active in
its pacification efforts between the military and MILF rebels across
Mindanao for the past five years.
The group greatly reduced clashes
between the military and MILF with only some seven to ten reported
clashes within the period of their stay in Mindanao.
Malaysia, which volunteered to
mediate between the Philippine government and MILF rebels, initiated
the creation of the IMT to hasten the peace talks.
Both government and MILF
negotiators, however, could not agree on the issue of
ancestral-domain claim by the rebels in Mindanao.
The MILF wants to control some
1,000 villages across Mindanao without the conduct of a plebiscite
provided under the Philippine Constitution.
Government negotiators refused to
give in to the condition set by the MILF.
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