Gov’t, MILF negotiators to meet in KL to formalize decommissioning of the Moro group's arms and forces

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 28): Gov’t, MILF negotiators to meet in KL to formalize decommissioning of the Moro group's arms and forces

The peace panels of the Philippine government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will meet in Kuala Lumpur on Friday to sign the protocol on implementing the decommissioning of MILF arms and forces.

Government chief negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer announced that both parties will also discuss the plans for the first batch of weapons to be turned in to the International Decommissioning Body (IDB) that will supervise the processing of combatants who will be decommissioned and assisted in their transformation to productive civilian lives. The IDB will also be tasked with securing the weapons storage area where decommissioned weapons would be kept and put beyond use.

Both sides are expected to sign the implementing guidelines drafted and recommended by the Turkey-led Independent Decommissioning Body (IDB). Aside from the foreign expert from Turkey, the IDB is made up of experts from Norway and Brunei, and four other local experts jointly nominated by the parties.

“Ang signatories dito sa protocol implementing guidelines (ay) yung panel chairs, ang chair ng IDB at tsaka yung facilitator ng Malaysia,” Colonel-Ferrer said.

The seven-member IDB is headed by Ambassador Haydar Berk who formerly served as Turkish representative to the North Atlantic Council (NATO) and current advisor of Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Other members include Jan Erik Wilhemsen, a retired brigadier general from Norway who was part of UN peacekeeping forces in Honduras, El Salvador, Central Sudan, Nigeria, and Nepal; Major Muhammad Aiman Syazwi Bin Haji Abdul Rahim of the Royal Brunei Land Force (RBLF); and local experts, namely, retired Armed Forces of the Philippines LtGen. Rey Ardo, Dr. Mario Aguja, Von Al-Haq ‎and Isah Bato.

The scheduled meeting came amid doubts over the implementation of the southern peace process following the armed engagement between members of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force (SAF) and armed groups in the town of Mamasapano in Maguindanao province on Sunday.

The two parties have a standing ceasefire agreement.

The decommissioning of MILF combatants and weapons are among the provisions of the peace deal or the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro that the two sides signed in March last year.

MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal has earlier said that they are ready to undergo the decommissioning process and set to turnover an initial 75 high-powered firearms and crew-served weapons in a symbolic ceremony which will take place in the soonest possible time.

In its October editorial last year posted on Luwaran.com, the MILF said they agreed to undertake the decommissioning process “because of its sincerity and determination to solve the Bangsamoro Question in Mindanao.”

Under the Annex on Normalization, one of the key components of the peace deal, the decommissioning process will be implemented in four phases, along with other tracks such as socio-economic programs, confidence-building measures, redeployment of AFP, policing, disbandment of private armies and other armed groups, transitional justice and reconciliation.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=729899