Malaysian Deputy Defense Minister Johari Baharom (2nd from right) was welcomed to Cotabato City by his compatriots and the Bruneian and Indonesian members of the International Monitoring Team, which is helping enforce the ceasefire agreement between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the government. JOHN UNSON
The deputy defense minister of Malaysia on Thursday met with leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) for a dialogue on the gains of the MILF's peace overture with Malacañang the Malaysian government is helping push forward as third party facilitator.
Deputy Defense Minister Johari Baharom also visited the headquarters in Cotabato City of the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT), which is helping oversee since late 2003 the enforcement of an interim ceasefire pact between the MILF and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
The IMT is comprised of military and police personnel from Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia and non-uniformed conflict resolution experts from Japan and Norway.
Baharom and his entourage arrived at the nearby Maguindanao Airport about 8:30 a.m. on Thursday via a C-130 plane from Sandakan, Malaysia.
He was briefed by IMT officials led by Malaysian Army Gen. Wira Zamrose for two hours on the security situation in areas covered by the ceasefire accord between the MILF and Malacañang before proceeding to the rebel group's main bastion, Camp Darapanan, in Sultan Kudarat town in the first district of Maguindanao.
Baharom held a dialogue with senior members of the MILF's central committee and discussed with them prospects of the Mindanao peace process while in Camp Darapanan.
The Malaysian government has been helping facilitate the bilateral peace initiatives of the MILF and Malacañang since 2003.
While at the IMT headquarters in Rosary Heights District in Cotabato City, Baharom lauded the efforts of the multinational peacekeeping team in maintaining the fragile peace in conflict flashpoint areas in southern Mindanao where there are MILF bastions.
The peace talks between the government and the MILF started on January 7, 1997, but gained headway only in 2003 with the help of Malaysia, a member-state of the influential Organization of Islamic Cooperation, a bloc of more than 50 Muslim nations, among them petroleum-exporting countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
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