Malaysia will not abandon peace talks (6:37 p.m.)
MANILA - Malaysia will proceed with a plan to withdraw cease-fire monitors from the southern Philippines but will not abandon its role as mediator in peace talks between the Manila government and Muslim guerrillas, Malaysia’s defense forces chief said Thursday.
General Abdul Aziz Zainal did not clearly state the reason for the withdrawal, but Malaysian officials last week cited a lack of progress in the talks for its planned withdrawal of its truce monitors. They make up the bulk of a 60-man international contingent credited with preventing major fighting in southern Mindanao region the last four years.
There have been concerns that the planned withdrawal of Malaysian monitors could threaten a 2003 cease-fire, spark new clashes or encourage al-Qaida-linked militants to launch attacks to sabotage the already-stalled peace negotiations.
Abdul Aziz, who arrived in the Philippines Wednesday, discuscials the withdrawal of the Malaysian truce monitors but stressed in a news conference Thursday that Malaysia will continue to broker the talks between Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
“It doesn’t mean that we are abandoning the peace process,” Abdul Aziz told reporters.
After a legal mandate by the Philippine government and rebels authorizing the presence of the foreign truce monitors expires in August, Abdul Aziz suggested Malaysia would still be willing to help safeguard the 2003 cease-fire somehow in a “new format.”
He declined to elaborate, saying there could be talks to determine how Malaysia can continue to help to preserve the cease-fire in the future.
Abdul Aziz rejected fears that the Malaysian monitors’ withdrawal could lead to violence, saying Filipinos have grown used to the absence of fighting, which have considerably dropped from up to 700 clashes a year in the past to just 15 last year. (AP)
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