For their 3rd Special Meeting in four months, negotiators of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) kicked off their talks Tuesday, October 27, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on the protection of non-combatants in conflict-affected areas (CAAs) in a bid to move the Mindanao peace process forward.

It was gathered that Ambassador Rafael E. Seguis and Mohagher Iqbal, GRP and MILF peace panel chairmen, respectively, are seeking a framework agreement on the protection of civilians, as well as discuss the revival of the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG), and the International Monitoring Team (IMT).

They said another topic to be discussed is the term of reference for the membership of the International Contact Group (ICG), which was created last September 15.

For the peace talks to formally resume, it was learned these immediate concerns need to be addressed first.

IMT is the body led by Malaysia to observe the ceasefire, while the AHJAG is a mechanism for GRP and MILF cooperation in running after terrorists and criminals near MILF controlled-areas.

Both IMT and AHJAG’s mandates had already expired. IMT members were Libya, Brunei and Japan.

The idea behind having a mechanism to protect civilians during clashes between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the MILF is to prevent the repeat of the exodus of people fleeing to safer grounds, which in 2008 reached over 600,000.
Evacuees or internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Mindanao usually end up in scarcely equipped government evacuation centers.

Seguis and Iqbal’s rendezvous in Kuala Lumpur is the third in four months after GRP and MILF reconnected since the August 5, 2008 aborted signing of the ill-fated Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MoA-AD), which was planned to grant the Bangsamoro people a wider and stronger homeland autonomy.

This brought down the collapse of the peace negotiations due to renewed hostilities. Since then, GRP and MILF have been trying to foster confidence-building measures to get the collapsed peace talks back on track.

Meanwhile, it was also gathered that Seguis and Iqbal are facing each other again until Wednesday, October 28, in the peace table to dig deep down on GRP and MILF’s reservoir of goodwill and desire for peace.