Government, MILF agree to end hostilities in Cotabato

Government forces and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) yesterday agreed to end three days of hostilities that have killed six people and displaced at least 4,000 residents in three villages in Midsayap, North Cotabato.

MILF forces will withdraw from barangays Rangaban, Tugal and Mudsing in Midsayap where renewed fighting between troopers and rebels started last Thursday.

"We agreed to an immediate ceasefire and the putting up of a joint action monitoring team in the area," said MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu. "The military has also agreed to reposition its forces."

Kabalu also assured the people that the renewed fighting that broke out between government troops and Muslim rebels would not affect the resumption of the peace talks.

"The peace negotiation would continue. This is a problem on the ground between our forces and government troops, which has already been properly addressed by the CCCH (joint Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities) of the two panels," Kabalu told The STAR.

Kabalu said the CCCH had declared a ceasefire to put a stop to the clashes.

Presidential Assistant on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza welcomed the declaration of a ceasefire as he agreed with Kabalu that the fighting would not affect the peace process.

Dureza arrived in Midsayap accompanied by Eastern Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Rodolfo Obaniana to visit the areas affected by the clashes.

"It won’t affect the peace process. The peace talks will continue as the existing problem is already being addressed," said Dureza.

Brig. Gen. Edgardo Gurrea, chairman of the government’s CCCH, his MILF counterpart Von al-Haq and Malaysian Army Gen. Ismail Khan of the International Monitoring Team (IMT), have agreed to reposition forces away from the affected villages.

The CCCH and the IMT forged last Sunday a low-level peace pact, as an initial step to stop the fighting in Midsayap.

Police said the fighting started following a spate of attacks by MILF guerrillas in the three villages over the past days that forced the residents to evacuate from their homes.

Investigators said that according to the evacuees, the groups of MILF commanders Masgal, Orih and Garduque, who are all wanted for criminal offenses, have been attacking the villages during the harvest season, taking newly harvested rice, farm animals, and personal belongings of residents who are mostly Muslim families.

"When they come they shoot our houses with their rifles to scare us away and when we are gone, they start looting our houses," said Bai Masla, a local resident.

The military retaliated with artillery attacks and helicopter gunships that killed four MILF fighters.

The MILF, however, denied starting the fighting and accused the military of encroaching on villages occupied by rebels and their families.

Kabalu said government militiamen and MILF rebels have been disputing the ownership of land in the area.

He said the incident will be jointly investigated by the tripartite committee of the MILF, the government and the Malaysia-led IMT.

Kabalu said a joint action monitoring team will also be established in the area while the Army unit in the area was advised to reposition its troops.

The low-level truce prescribed on both government and MILF forces to desist from initiating tactical maneuvers to prevent a repeat of the Jan. 25 to 27 skirmishes in Midsayap.

The joint CCCH and the IMT, which is composed of soldiers and policemen from Malaysia, Brunei and Libya, and a Japanese rehabilitation expert, also agreed to immediately deploy units in the affected villages to help implement the truce.

Dureza had asked the government and MILF ceasefire committees to enlist peace advocacy groups and non-government organizations into the monitoring teams.

Among the first to express willingness to help in monitoring the low-level agreement and the general ceasefire between the government and MILF were members of the Catholic and Islamic communities in North Cotabato, including the missionaries of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate congregation.

This developed as the government and the MILF await the advisory of the Malaysian government on the resumption of the stalled peace negotiation following disagreements over claims on ancestral domain last September.

Malaysia, which hosts the peace negotiation, also acts as mediator between the government and the MILF. Proposals or documents should first be submitted to the Malaysian government before it can reach the other party as part of their protocol.

"We are already ready and so with the government. We understand that we still have to wait for Malaysia to say when it would be because they host the talks," Kabalu said.

The impasse in the negotiations started after the MILF rejected the government’s proposal on how the territory issue of the ancestral domain claim involving the establishment of the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity shall be resolved.

The rebels objected to the proposal that the area covered by the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) be expanded to accommodate the MILF territory, but should be subject to constitutional processes.

But the MILF accepted a revised proposal the government submitted last November, which reportedly deleted the mention of "subject to constitutional processes" and the document instead pushed more for "right to self-determination." – With John Unson, Ramil Bajo, AFP