Ceasefire violations almost zero, says Malaysian general

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Almost nil.

Thus said Malaysian Maj. Gen. Datuk Mat Yasin bin Daud, head of the International Monitoring Team (IMT), of ceasefire violations by either the military or the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Skirmishes that could threaten the ceasefire between the two “have gone down very drastically,” said Daud, who heads the fourth batch of the Malaysian-led IMT.

Malaysia is brokering the peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the MILF.

Yasin, together with other foreign observers from Brunei, Indonesia, Libya, and Malaysia that comprise the IMT, and the heads of the government-MILF joint ceasefire committee (JCC) paid a courtesy call on Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat the other day.

Yasin reported that before the ceasefire took effect, hostilities and encounters between military and MILF forces numbered 698.

With the ceasefire in place, such incidents went down to 559 in 2003, when the government called for the presence of foreign truce monitors, and further to 15 in 2005 and 10 the following year.

Despite hostilities in Basilan, the number was down to a single digit – seven – last year, Yasin said.

“What I am trying to say is that with the cooperation of the stakeholders and the people in Mindanao, hostilities are going down drastically by 99 percent,” he said, citing just one incident in Barangay Lakiki in Sibuco, Zamboanga del Norte.

“I do hope that with the cooperation of everyone there will be no more encounters,” he added.

Yasin said there should be a peaceful environment on the ground to allow the negotiating panels of the government and the MILF to craft a peace accord.

Von Alhaq, the MILF’s JCC head, said the ceasefire is effectively holding on the ground, citing the front’s close coordination with the military.

“We have achieved many accomplishments on the ground. But out of that we cannot deny the fact that the role of the IMT is so vital unlike before (when there was) no intervention,” Alhaq said.

Alhaq said the impasse in the peace talks has not affected the ceasefire.

“The more that we have to close our ranks in preventing any incidents,” he said.

Brig. Gen. Reynaldo Sealana, the government’s JCC panel chief, gave assurance that President Arroyo has instructed them to see to it that the ceasefire would hold on the ground.

“Our peace panels cannot properly and smoothly talk about a negotiated solution to the decade-old problem without peace on the ground,” Sealana said.