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Manila: Malaysia will continue to be a broker of the 10-year-old peace talks between the Philippine government and a major separatist group, despite the withdrawal of 60 per cent of Malaysian peacekeepers in the war-torn southern Philippines on May 10, senior officials said yesterday.
In a meeting at the presidential palace, President Gloria Arroyo thanked Malaysian Foreign Minister Dr Rais Yatim for Kuala Lumpur's role as a peace broker between Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which have been negotiating for a pro-autonomy political settlement since 1997.
"[In a meeting with Yatim], I expressed our wish that Malaysia would continue their participation in the peace process. There was this strong support for the peace process from the Malaysian foreign minister. He said that whatever the Philippines would feel comfortable about, we should note them officially," said Secretary Jesus Dureza, presidential adviser on the peace process with the MILF.
Diplomatic note
In a briefing at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Philippine foreign undersecretary for special concerns Rafael Seguis said: "Malaysia will continue to facilitate the peace process because they have not said we will stop facilitating the peace talks."
Seguis gave details of the Malaysian government plan to withdraw its peace keepers from the International Monitoring Team (IMT) which has been monitoring the ceasefire agreement that was signed by the Philippine government and the MILF in 2003.
"The diplomatic note stated that Malaysia will cut back 29 peace keepers by May 10 - there will be 12 who will be left - and they will be leaving by August before the mandate of the IMT expires," said Seguis.
"This is just a temporary arrangement when May 10 withdrawal takes effect. I believe the withdrawal of the Malaysian peacekeepers will not disrupt the ceasefire," Seguis said.
"The ceasefire mechanism can continue because the Philippine government and MILF have expressed commitment that they would like to make their ceasefire agreement work," Seguis explained.
"We have not requested for an extension [of the Malaysian presence with the monitoring team]."
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