Malaysia sends new peace monitors to Mindanao

MANILA, Philippines – Malaysia has sent a new contingent of peace monitors to the Philippines to monitor the ceasefire between the Philippine government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front, even as the crisis in Sabah escalated.

In the statement of the MILF Wednesday, it said Malaysia named the new head of the International Monitoring Contingent (IMT) as Major General Dato Fadzil Bin Mokhtar,  who replaced Major General Dato Abdul Rahim Bin Mohd Yusuff,  Head of Mission of IMT Batch 7.

When asked whether their arrival would affect the ongoing amid operations by Malaysian security forces against followers of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III in Sabah, Fadzil said he doesn’t think so.

He added that they were “clear” on their mission to the Philippines to continue monitoring the ceasefire.

The IMT’s main headquarters is in Cotabato City while its team sites are in the cities of Cotabato, General Santos, Iligan, Davao and Zamboanga.

The IMT-member countries are Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Japan, Libya and Norway, with  a military contingent of 19 members from Malaysia, 15 from Brunei, 14 from Indonesia and for development, humanitarian and rehabilitation aspects and two each from Japan, Norway and the European Union.

The IMT was established in 2004 to monitor the ongoing peace process between the Government of the Philippines and the MILF.