MILF starts disarming process

From the Daily Tribune (Sep 29): MILF starts disarming process

The difficult process of disarming rebels after a decades-long insurgency has started, Philippine government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) negotiators yesterday said, with the decommissioning of a first batch of firearms expected before year-end.

Negotiators started meeting in Malaysia last Saturday to discuss the disarmament process, key to ending the insurgency in Mindanao and sealing a peace deal.

The two sides have appointed three foreign experts — from Brunei, Turkey and Norway — to join the International Decommissioning Body (IDB) that will oversee the decommissioning process, together with four local experts who are yet to be nominated.

The IDB shall perform functions that include the conduct of inventory, verification and validation of Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) members, arms and weapons; develop and implement a schedule of decommissioning of BIAF forces; plan, design, and implement techniques and technologies for weapons collection or retrieval, transport, and storage and putting weapons beyond use in accordance with  the ?agreement of the parties; and report on the progress of its work and submit its report to the government and MILF panels.

Aside from the IDB, the two other bodies integral to the normalization process include the Joint Normalization Committee which will coordinate the different normalization processes and mechanisms; and the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission which will undertake a study and recommend to the panels the appropriate mechanisms for transitional justice and reconciliation.

“Decommissioning is a delicate and difficult component of any peace settlement. It must be done effectively and sensitively. It is an affirmative support to the normalization process and will contribute to advancing collective security in the future Bangsamoro region and the country as a whole,” chief government negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said in a statement.

The meeting will continue until today.

Chief MILF negotiator Mohagher Iqbal had said earlier that 75 assorted firearms, including high-powered rifles, would be stored and padlocked in a warehouse as part of the “normalization” process that will see the rebels trade their weapons for a chance to join mainstream society.

“Decommissioning firearms is really very difficult, but you have to undertake the ultimate sacrifice just to have the Bangsamoro,” Iqbal stressed.

Bangsamoro is the southern region on Mindanao island where the country’s Muslim minority will have self-rule under a pact they signed with the Aquino administration last March.

The peace deal seeks to end four decades of fighting that left tens of thousands killed and stunted development in the mineral-rich area.

Ferrer had said “the first order of business” for the meeting would be for the MILF to submit a list of weapons and combatants.

Military estimates place the strength of the MILF at 10,000. The group has not disclosed the size of its force or the number of weapons in its arsenal.

Decommissioning will be phased, depending on the delivery of government commitments under the peace deal, Iqbal said.

Ferrer said there was enough “goodwill” to push through with normalization after a bill that will grant the country’s Muslim minority self-rule was submitted to Congress earlier this month.

Legislators said the Bangsamoro bill had bipartisan support and would be passed early next year, giving President Aquino time to set up an autonomous government before his term ends in mid-2016. 

 http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/milf-starts-disarming-process