Manila: A female member will be joining the Moro Islamic Liberation Front panel as talks with government peace negotiators resume this week in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.

The inclusion of the still unnamed female MILF negotiating panel member will be a first since negotiations to end the more than two decades old conflict started formally in 1999.

A report published in the MILF’s Luwaran.com mentioned two personalities as possible nominees to the 23rd Government-MILF Exploratory Talks. These are lawyer Raissa Jajurie and Bai Cabaybay Abubakar, who current members of the MILF peace panel board of consultants.

According to Jun Mantawil, head of MILF peace panel Secretariat, the decision to include a female member to the negotiating comittee was virtually sealed after the MILF central leadership approved the plan---pending fulfilment of other necessary requirements for a woman to travel with men.

Having a female peace panel member on the MILF side is a major development for the peace negotiations as it marks the first time that a woman will be taking part in the parlays.

According to Luwaran, Jajurie is a human rights lawyer from Sulu, while Abubakar is from Cotabato City, and is the president of the Sharif Kabunsuan College.

The MILF and government peace panels will be resuming the peace negotiations on Monday, nearly two months after the bloody clash in Al Barka, Basilan that left 19 fatalities on the government side.

Government forces was about to serve a warrant for the arrest of a suspect in a bombing incident in Zamboanga City two years ago when they were ambushed by gunmen under the command of a local MILF commander.

Marvic Leonen chair of the government panel engaged in negotiations with the MILF earlier had said then that recommendations will be drawn up by both sides as well as the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team overseeing the truce.

“ Further, the MILF reaffirmed that it will cooperate with Government with respect to its efforts to interdict kidnap-for-ransom groups, criminal syndicates, and “lost commands” pursuant to the Joint Communique and Implementing Guidelines of the Adhoc Joint Action Group of the MILF and the government.

The incident in Al Barka was not the first time that the palays had been imperilled by clashes between government forces and the MILF.

The MILF and the government had been trying to forge a negotiated solution to the conflict in southern Philippines for the past several years. Recently, UK officials visited representatives from both sides to share their experience on the peace process in Ireland.