Sunday, March 04, 2007 Jica checks out conflict areas
COTABATO CITY -- Members of a study team from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) were in Cotabao City recently to firm up plans leading to the conduct of a major needs assessment survey for conflict-affected communities.
The undertaking, called the Urgent Development Study for the Socio-Economic Reconstruction and Development of Conflict Affected Areas in Mindanao, is part of the Japanese government's contribution to the Mindanao peace process.
Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (Opapp) Executive Director Ryan Sullivan welcomed Jica team's study. "This clearly reflects the international community's commitment to the Mindanao peace process," he said in a statement.
The Jica team, led by Mr. Kenji Maekawa, Urban and Regional Development/Reconstruction specialist, met with senior representatives of the International Monitoring Team (IMT) and the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) of the government panel for the talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Both the IMT, composed of some 70 peacekeeping forces from various Asian countries, and the CCCH are tasked to ensure that the ceasefire holds between the two parties.
The team's Maguindanao itinerary included a visit to Barangay Kuloy to listen to the people's accounts of their living conditions now following a major conflict. They also met with officials of the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) in Cotabato City.
The familiarization tour in Midsayap, North Cotabato included a visit to Barangay Rangeban, a briefing on the history of the local conflict, and a talk with local officials as well as with the evacuees in the area.
Hiroaki Yonesaka, a member of the Jica team, admitted his concern over the level of poverty and backwardness he had witnessed during the visits, but expressed optimism that things will turn out better for the affected populations.
The team earlier paid a courtesy call to the MILF Central Committee in Darapanan, Sultan Kudarat in Maguindanao.
