Libya, Brunei to send more peacekeepers to South

MANILA, Philippines – Libya and Brunei are considering sending more peacekeepers to the southern Philippines to safeguard a fragile 2003 ceasefire between government troops and the country’s largest Muslim rebel group, a Philippine official said yesterday.

Malaysia has been brokering peace talks between Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) since 2001, and leads a 60-man truce-monitoring team also comprising representatives from Libya, Brunei and Japan.

But Malaysia began pulling its more than 40 peacekeepers out in May in a sign of impatience at a months-long impasse in the peace process.

The Philippine government has appealed for more peacekeepers from Muslim countries to help fill that vacuum, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said.

Malaysia plans to complete the withdrawal in August, but has nevertheless made it clear it will broker any future peace talks between the Philippine government and the MILF.

The monitors are deployed in conflict areas and have been credited with a sharp drop in clashes since they arrived in 2004. The Malaysians’ withdrawal has set off fears of renewed fighting, and at least two brief clashes have erupted since they began pulling out.

“We became concerned because of the sudden pullout of the Malaysians but we’re confident the ceasefire would hold,”Gonzales said.

Libya and Brunei, which both have less than 20 truce monitors here, have pledged to increase their numbers to 25 each, Gonzales said, adding that Indonesia was considering sending representatives.

Any new presence of foreign monitors needs the permission of the government and the rebels – a potential problem because no new meetings have been scheduled since the talks stalled. The monitors’ current authority expires in August.                       – AP

The peace talks hit a snag in December when rebel negotiators walked away from a meeting to protest Manila’s insistence that any accord should conform to the Philippine Constitution.

The MILF, which is estimated to have about 11,000 fighters, has been battling for self-rule in the southern region of Mindanao, home of minority Muslim Filipinos, since the late 1970s.

US and Philippine officials hope a peace pact can transform the south into a booming economic hub instead of combat zones that can be a breeding ground for terrorism. – AP