Wednesday, November 21, 2007 Canada joins truce monitor
KORONADAL CITY -- Canada's bid for a direct involvement in the Mindanao peace process has gained the nod of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
It thus brought to five the number of countries with formal active participation in the southern peace process.
"Both panels considered and accepted the offer of the Government of Canada to join the International Monitoring Team (IMT)," said a joint statement signed by Rodolfo Garcia and Mohagher Iqbal, peace panel chairman of the government and the MILF, respectively.
Both sides just concluded the 14th exploratory talks in Malaysia on Thursday, after a 14-month impasse brought by the ticklish ancestral domain agenda.
The meeting ended on a positive note, with the ironing of the territory strand of the ancestral domain agenda, the signatories said.
Malaysia , which is brokering the peace negotiations, also agreed to extend the four-year stint of the International Monitoring Team for another year.
Malaysia heads the military contingent of the IMT, which is also composed of Brunei and Libya.
Japan has joined the team but participates only in the socio-economic aspect. Canada several months ago sent a note verbale to the Philippine government expressing its desire to take part in the southern peace process.
Canada, which has a similar problem at home especially in the province of Quebec, intends to handle "governance" aspect of the foreign truce monitoring team.
For years, Canada supports the Local Government Support Program in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Another country, Sweden , has expressed interest last year to participate on the "humanitarian" side of the monitoring team. (BSS)
