Libya offers replacements for Malaysian peacekeepers

THE Libyan government has offered to send more peacekeepers to Mindanao to fill the vacancy to be created by the pullout of 21 Malaysian soldiers next month.

Former Libyan Ambassador Salem Adam made the commitment during a visit to Manila earlier this week, and amid reports that Kuala Lumpur would cut by half its contingent in the international monitoring team that oversees the four-year-old ceasefire between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

A Palace source said Libya, together with Indonesia, would make good replacements for Malaysia, which no longer wants to extend the mandate of its delegation beyond August.

Libya has a long history of brokering peace negotiations with Muslim secessionist groups, being a member of the Committee of the Six that facilitated talks with the Moro National Liberation Front that ended with the signing of a final peace agreement in 1996.

Libya now has two members in the monitoring team. Malaysia has 50 soldiers, Brunei has 10, and Japan has a development worker.

Since the team was put in place in October 2004, the number of skirmishes between government troops and MILF rebels had declined from 700 incidents in 200 to fewer than a dozen last year.

Salem met with high-ranking government officials during his three-day stay in Manila, including Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza and National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales.

Earlier, government chief negotiator Rodolfo Garcia said a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations with a predominantly Muslim population would be best suited to replace Malaysia.

“The Indonesians are possible [replacement]. Logically, it helps if the team’s head comes from a country that is predominantly Muslim because they will be able to understand the practice, religion and culture in Mindanao better,” Garcia said.

Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said his government would start a phased withdrawal of its people from the international peacekeeping team that has been safeguarding the ceasefire agreement signed by the MILF and the government in 2003.