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.