MILF sees hope with arrival of peace monitors

SULTAN KUDARAT, Maguindanao - With the arrival of over 60 foreign cease-fire observers, initially only Malaysians, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has expressed “renewed optimism” to the 8-year-old peace negotiations.

Ghazali Jaafar, MILF vice chairman for political affairs, in an interview at his headquarters here, said: “The peace negotiations have already [reached] the point that it is already an international event because the International Monitoring Team (IMT) is already here.”

When fully set up, the IMT will be composed of representatives of Brunei, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Japan and Malaysia, the host of the formal peace talks.

Jaafar said they will be in the country to monitor the implementation of the truce for only a year, but if the government and the MILF later agree to extend their stay, “we will just request their governments.”

The Brunei delegation was set to arrive on Wednesday. He said the other countries may be sending their representatives early next year in time for the resumption of the formal talks.

The formal talks will be preceded by an informal session after the fasting holy month of Ramadan.

He said the MILF plans to establish satellite offices in the cities of Zamboanga, Iligan, Davao, and General Santos, but its main office will be in Cotabato City.

“This is very important and we agreed to put up the IMT because both the government and the MILF realized that it will help in the effectiveness of the implementation of the cease-fire agreement. The truce has to be maintained effectively for the negotiations to succeed.”

The creation of the IMT was agreed upon in February by the government and the MILF negotiators in Kuala Lumpur.

The talks started in January 1997 shortly after the government inked the Final Peace Agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front. The MILF was a splinter group that grew.