RP-MILF talks to resume this month, says Malaysian envoy

Peace negotiations between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will resume this month in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian Ambassador Mohamed Taufik said yesterday.

Taufik said Kuala Lumpur, which is hosting and brokering the long-delayed peace talks, however has not set specific dates.

The Philippine government was expecting the peace talks to resume sometime last month but this failed to push through.

An advance team from Malaysia tasked to survey the areas in Mindanao where the international ceasefire monitoring team was to be deployed was expected to arrive last month to pave the way for the resumption of the peace talks.

But the team did not arrive, causing further delays in the peace negotiations that should have started several months ago.

Taufik previously said the Malaysian government decided not to send the advance team to the Philippines last December because of the expected breaks in the government offices during the holiday season.

Malaysian defense officials said they are ready to send their team and are merely awaiting the order of their government.

The advance team will be composed of less than 10 members exclusively from Malaysia and will be gathering information about the situation in Mindanao which will be consolidated into a report to be shared with the members of the ceasefire monitoring team.

On the other hand, the international ceasefire monitoring team is expected to be composed of 25 members from Malaysia, Libya, Brunei, Bahrain and Bangladesh.

Once the ceasefire monitoring team has arrived, the resumption of the peace talks is expected to follow shortly.

Meanwhile, the US Embassy reiterated that Washington’s role in the peace talks will be merely to support the Philippine and Malaysian governments.

The reaction came as several reports yesterday quoted Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. as saying that the US government through the US Institute of Peace (USIP) has renewed its offer to act as peace mediator for the peace talks.

Pimentel said that the US is eager to enter the picture in the peace talks because they are worried about the delays.

He said that an email was sent to him by USIP executive director Eugene Martin, who reportedly told him that the continued delay could imperil the peace process and lead to an renewed outbreak of hostilities.

The US Embassy in its website noted that the institute will play a supporting role in the peace process.

"The institute, an independent, nonpartisan organization created and funded by Congress to promote peaceful resolution of international conflicts, agreed to play this facilitating role in an unofficial capacity," the statement noted.

It was reiterated that Malaysia is the mediator and host of the peace talks.

The USIP plans to continue its facilitation when formal peace talks begin in Kuala Lumpur in the near future.

The peace talks were initially expected to resume last July when the Philippine government and the MILF entered into a ceasefire agreement.

However, several incidents took place which resulted in the delays of the talks such as the death of MILF chairman Hashim Salamat, the consolidation of Ebrahim Murad’s leadership, the celebration of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Philippines’ observance of the Christmas and New Year Day holidays.

The MILF has been waging a decades-long insurgency to establish an independent Islamic state in Mindanao, home to the Philippines’ Muslim minority.