GPH, MILF seek Brunei's help in decommissioning of guerillas

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - The government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have urged Brunei to help in the decommissioning of guerillas as part of a normalization process stated in the GPH-MILF peace compact.

Brunei, since late 2003, has representatives to the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT), which is helping oversee the enforcement in flashpoint areas of the July 1997 Agreement on General Cessation of Hostilities between the government and the MILF.

MILF Chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim told reporters about Brunei’s having been asked to join the Independent Decommissioning Body (IDB) after last week’s visit to Camp Darapanan of Major Gen. Dato Seri Pahlawan Mohd Tawih Abdullah of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces.

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

“Brunei is honored with the invitation to join the IDB and the Brunei Armed Forces is optimistic about this invitation,” the visiting Abdullah was quoted as saying in a statement released by the MILF on Wednesday.

The IDB will help the government and the MILF decommission guerillas as part of a normalization process meant to gradually integrate them into the unarmed mainstream for them to have normal lives under a Bangsamoro political entity.

Murad had said the MILF was elated with the visit of Abdullah to Camp Darapanan, done during the Ramadhan fasting season, which started June 29 and will end upon the sighting of the new moon in the last week of July, which will mark the start of the month of Shawwal in the lunar-based Hijrah calendar.

Murad had reportedly told the visiting Bruneian military officer and his official entourage that the MILF is grateful to Sultan Hassannal Bolkiah for having been supportive of the Mindanao peace process.

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

The government and the MILF had 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 government-MILF ceasefire accord under the multinational IMT contingent, which is also comprised of soldiers and policemen from Malaysia, Libya, Indonesia, and non-uniformed conflict resolution and socio-economic experts from Norway, Japan and the European Union.