The Philippine government said it has not received a notification from the Malaysian government regarding the withdrawal of its peace monitoring contingent in the Philippine southern region of Mindanao, reports said Wednesday.
Rafael Seguis, a foreign affairs undersecretary, said the Philippine government will respect the decision of Malaysia, but hoped that it would re-consider its decision if the reports were true.
"One thing I know is that we have not received an official communication from the Malaysian government regarding this. I don't want to speculate at the moment and make further comments until we receive the formal notification if they will withdraw all or some of the monitors," Seguis told reporters.
Meanwhile, Jesus Dureza, the Philippine presidential adviser on the peace process, said he had just finished a trip to Kuala Lumpur and officials there had given "no indication of any announcement of total withdrawal."
"I am confident that Malaysia will be with us all the way," Dureza said.
Malaysian peacekeepers, who are leading the International Monitoring Team (IMT), have been in Mindanao since 2004 to monitor the ceasefire agreement signed between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Malaysian Foreign Minister Rais Yatim on Monday said Malaysia doesn't plan to send more troops or other personnel to Mindanao once the current mandate of its monitoring team ends in September.
Though Yatim did not elaborate on the reasons for the possible pullout, over the years Malaysian officials have been threatening to withdraw its peace-keepers for lack of apparent sincerity between the Philippine government and the 12,000-member rebel group to ink a final peace agreement.
The MILF, fighting for a Muslim state in southern Philippines since its founding in 1978, signed a transient truce with the government in 2003 but peace talks have been on and off as two sides could not agree on the size and wealth of the proposed ancestral homeland for Muslims in Mindanao.
Rodolfo Garcia, the chief negotiator of the Philippine government, said stable and peaceful condition now enjoyed in the contingency-rife Mindanao "would not be very sure if the Malaysians end their presence."
Senior members of MILF also admitted that the situation "will be very volatile" without a third party as the Moro rebels were becoming impatient with the slow pace of talks.
"I hope they will consider the impact of the withdrawal on the peace process since they are the main mediators, they know what will happen to the peace process," Seguis said.
Source:Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article