Brunei urged to help decommission MILF men

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – The government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have urged Brunei to help in the decommissioning of Moro guerrillas as part of the normalization process under the peace pact.

Since late 2003, Brunei has had representatives in the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team that has been helping oversee the enforcement of the government-MILF July 1997 agreement on the general cessation of hostilities.

MILF chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim told journalists that Brunei was asked to join the Independent Decommissioning Body (IDB) when Maj. Gen. Dato Seri Pahlawan Mohd Tawih Abdullah of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces visited Camp Darapanan last week.

Murad and Abdullah discussed the prospects of the Mindanao peace process during their meeting at Camp Darapanan, the MILF’s main bastion located in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao.

“Brunei is honored with the invitation to join the IDB and the Brunei Armed Forces is optimistic about this invitation,” the MILF quoted Abdullah as saying.

The IDB will help the government and the MILF decommission guerrillas to gradually integrate them into the mainstream and lead normal lives under a Bangsamoro political entity.

While in Cotabato City, Abdullah also met with IMT officials who briefed him on the security situation in areas covered by the government-MILF ceasefire.

The government and the MILF have also invited Norway and Turkey to join the IDB, according to sources from the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process.

A team of soldiers from Brunei has been helping monitor since 2003 the 1997 ceasefire accord under the IMT, also composed of military and police personnel from Malaysia, Libya, and Indonesia, and non-uniformed conflict resolution and socio-economic experts from Norway, Japan and the European Union.