Government-MILF talks resume December 8

MANILA, Philippines - The government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will resume the peace talks on Dec. 8-9 in Malaysia.

In a joint statement, Ambassador Rafael Seguis, government panel chairman, and MILF panel chief Mohagher Iqbal said they agreed to resume peace negotiations following the establishment of the International Contact Group (ICG) for the peace process.

“The formation of the ICG finally clears the way for the formal resumption of peace talks, and the panels agreed to resume the conduct of the peace negotiations on Dec. 8-9, 2009 in Kuala Lumpur,” Seguis and Iqbal said.

The ICG is initially composed of the United Kingdom, Japan and Turkey as member countries and the Asia Foundation, the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, the Conciliation Resources and the Muhammadiyah from the international nongovernment organizations as members.

Seguis said the first organizational meeting of the ICG would be held on Dec. 4 in Manila.

The UK accepted last Tuesday the invitation of the government and the MILF to become a member of the ICG.

British Ambassador Stephen Lillie conveyed to the negotiating panels the British government’s acceptance of the joint invitation to join the ICG that is envisioned to provide support to the negotiations.

Japan announced last Friday that it also accepted the invitation for Japanese representatives to the ICG for the peace negotiations.

The role of ICG is complementary to the existing facilitation mechanism and peace process architecture. Its role is in accordance with the Framework Agreement.

Ad-hoc in nature and issue-specific in its engagement, the ICG may give impartial advice to either Party or both.

The ICG may accept tasking from the facilitator, the government or MILF as appropriate. The ICG acting as a group may issue public statements as appropriate, in writing, decided by consensus.

ICG members may review their commitment as appropriate. When a final peace agreement is reached, the ICG, Facilitator and Parties would review the nature of the ICG’s role and membership. – Jose Rodel Clapano, Pia Lee-Brago