RP, MILF ask Muslim states to send peace monitors

RP, MILF ask Muslim states to send peace monitors

Agencies, Manila

Philippine officials and Muslim separatist rebels have asked Malaysia and several other countries to speed up the dispatch of monitors to observe a cease-fire in the south, officials said on Wednesday.

A joint cease-fire committee made up of military officials and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) members issued a statement asking the peace negotiating teams of both sides "to initiate or take action in order that the third party monitoring observer teams may be deployed as soon as possible."

Malaysia, which is hosting the planned peace talks between the Philippines and the MILF, has been asked to provide the bulk of third-party monitors, with Bangladesh, Bahrain, Brunei and Libya among others also asked to pitch in.

The 12,500-member MILF agreed on Tuesday to pursue the peace talks despite the death of its leader Salamat Hashim. The joint cease-fire coordinating team met on Monday, President Gloria Arroyo's spokesman Ignacio Bunye said.

However Bunye said it was now "unlikely" that these would start this week as previously announced.

"But I believe there are no major obstacles to the formal meeting in Kuala Lumpur since all the major issues have already been resolved."

The joint cease-fire committee said in their statement that Philippine military chief Gen. Narciso Abaya had ordered all his commanders to give "full support and utmost cooperation" to the committee, in a bid to ensure the ceasefire agreement would be observed. The two sides signed a cease-fire on July 18.

Separately, the Communist Party of the Philippines paid tribute on Wednesday to late Salamat Hashim, calling him an ally and a "great fighter and leader."

Party spokesman Gregorio Rosal said in a statement that communist rebels "foresee the continuing positive relationship and cooperation" with the new MILF chairman, Murad Ebrahim.