The 27 member states Europen Union (EU) on Friday assured through First Counselor Holger Rommen the powerful bloc's continuing support to the Mindanao peace process, stressing that peace is the only way to prosperity, health and education.

Rommen, head of the Contracts and Finance Section of the EU Delegation to the Philippines, was one of the speakers in the morning session of the first "National Solidarity Conference on Mindanao (NSCM) organized by the Mindanao People's Caucus (MPC) to bring MPC's struggle for an end to the conflict in the South through a negotiated settlement.

"In this occasion I would like to assure everyone here of the commitment of the EU to peace efforts in Mindanao. Without peace there is no success in assuring prosperity, health and eduction," the EU official said.

Among the other speakers included Brig. Gen. Datuk Baharom Bin Hamza, head of the International Monitoring Team (IMT) for the peace process between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Mohagher Iqbal, chairman of the deactivated MILF peace panel but was represented by Mike Pasigan, and Badria Abas, a leader of the remaining 60,000 or so internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Maguindanao's evacuation centers. (Edd K. Usman)