Truce may falter after Malaysian withdrawal

Manila: A cease-fire between Muslim rebels and government forces in the southern Philippines will be at risk after Malaysia withdraws dozens of peacekeepers from the region, peace activists and the guerrillas warned on Sunday.

Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najeeb Razak said Thursday his government would start withdrawing its personnel next month. The Malaysians makes up the bulk of a 60-man foreign contingent safeguarding a 2003 cease-fire between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has been waging a decades-old insurrection.

Rebel negotiator Mohagher Iqbal on Saturday said it would be difficult to prevent occasional conflicts between troops and rebels from erupting into full-blown fighting without the foreign peacekeepers.

Taking advantage

Other extremist groups and armed groups opposed to the peace talks could also take advantage of the lack of peacekeepers to launch attacks, he said.

The foreign peacekeepers "have been responsible for bringing down the incidents of violence in Mindanao to almost zero", Iqbal said, referring to the southern home region of minority Muslims in the predominantly Roman Catholic country. "If they leave, it follows that the violence can return," he said.

Bantay Cease-fire, a church-backed group whose members include residents displaced by past clashes, feared that new fighting could again ravage lives and farming communities.

Its members said in a statement they were willing to kneel before Malaysian officials and the peacekeepers to plead that they stay.

"The pullout of the international monitoring team led by the government of Malaysia will clearly have dire consequences on the lives of people in the conflict-affected areas," the peace activists said.

The international monitoring team, which has been led by Malaysia since 2004, also includes military officers from Libya and an economic expert from Japan.