Malaysian defense chief visits Phl Army in Mindanao

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - The chief of the Malaysian defense forces paid a courtesy visit on Thursday to the Philippine Army’s 6th Infantry Division and his compatriots helping enforce in Mindanao the 15-year ceasefire between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

The visiting dignitary, Gen. Mohammad Zulkifile, was the first, pioneer in-charge of the International Monitoring Team (IMT), originally comprised of soldiers and police officers from Malaysia, Brunei and Libya, that started helping oversee the government-MILF ceasefire in 2003.

Zulkifile was briefed on the security situation in Central Mindanao, where the MILF has more than 50 enclaves, by Major Gen. Caesar Ronnie Ordoyo, commander of the 6th ID.

The 6th ID has jurisdiction over Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat and North Cotabato, where the MILF has dozens of enclaves covered by the rebel group’s July 1997 Agreement on General Cessation of Hostilities.

Officials of 6th ID said they were honored with Zulkifile’s visit, after serving as the head of the first IMT mission in Central Mindanao for more than one year.

The IMT was bilaterally established by the government and the MILF, as a multi-national ceasefire monitoring contingent, to help observe the enforcement of the ceasefire in flashpoint areas in Mindanao.

The composition of the Malaysian-led IMT was expanded in recent years with the participation of non-uniformed rehabilitation, conflict resolution and human rights experts from Norway and the European Union, and a military contingent from Indonesia.

Zulkifle, who arrived here via Manila, also met with members of IMT in a separate meeting while in Cotabato City.