The stalled peace process between the GRP and MILF startled with the sudden decision of the Malaysian government to gradually pull out the Malaysian contingents from the International Monitoring Team (IMT). The Malaysian government as the main facilitators of the GRP- MILF peace process had been maintaining 41 IMT members from Malaysian Defense Forces and the rest of 19 IMT members have been from Brunei, Libya and Japan. Within two weeks after the announcement, the Malaysian government pulled out 29 of their IMT members including the head of the Mission of IMT in Mindanao. The complete pull out of Malaysians from IMT will be completed in the end of August 2008. . The Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team arrived in Mindanao in 2004 and is considered to have contributed in reducing the number of armed hostilities.
Both GRP and MILF did not show any panick over Malaysian government’s decision to pull out from IMT. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front made an official statement in a highly confident fashion that “Malaysia’s government is doing the right thing” and they had already been expecting this kind of announcement but they didn’t anticipate that it would happen so suddenly. The GRP firmly stated that “they respect and accept Malaysia’s decision”. Some shadow of doubts were cast when some Manila based newspapers quoted a Presidential official on conditions of anonymity that “the Malaysians are not a fair facilitators as they have their own interests at stake on the issues of Sabah island”. It is important to mention that MNLF claims Sabah as a part of Sulu Sultanate which has been causing unrest among the policy makers of Malaysia. With the commencement of phased pull out, the Malaysian government conveyed to both parties that they are not abandoning their role as facilitators in the GRP-MILF Peace Process.
The pull out of the Malaysians from the IMT reactivated fear among the people in Mindanao. Some analysts depict the present situation as being quite vulnerable as any small incident between the armed groups of GRP and MILF could trigger a massive armed clash. Although both parties are showing immense commitment to resolve all the outstanding issues through dialogue and peaceful means, the delays in the recommencement of official peace talks and the pull out of Malaysians from the IMT reduced the level of trust and confidence between both sides. In such a critical situation, the movement or repositioning of troops and combatants adds more fuel to the fire. The Libyan government made an offer to send additional monitors to the IMT to fill the gap created after the pull out of Malaysians but such an offer could be accepted only if both the GRP and MILF Peace Panels agree to it.
The proactive civil society organizations in Mindanao organized a series of their respective network meetings and produced individual and collective statements urging the GRP to resume the official peace talks with MILF, and to postpone the upcoming Regional Governor’s election in Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, and requested Malaysia to stay in the IMT.
At the same time as the the news about Malaysia’s withdrawal, the Makati Regional Trial court gave a verdict of releasing Prof. Nur Misuari (founder chairman of MNLF) on a bail posting of Php 50,000.00 with the condition of not leaving the country. The sudden release of Prof. Nur Misuari, after years of house arrest, generated waves of delight among the followers of Prof. Misuari in Mindanao and was acutely welcomed by the MILF. However, the timing of the release also raised some concern that the GRP may intend to create further divide among the already divided Moro community. Prof. Nur Misuari criticized the role of Malaysia in the Mindanao Peace Process and announced to organize a Peace Summit in Mindanao to unite the Moros on a common platform.
There was not any major armed encounter other than the one between AFP and MNLF forces in Indanan, Sulu. According to the military, the armed encounter took place when marines attacked a vehicle of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and later the chasing of ASG ended up in a firefight and shelling near a MNLF camp. The incident resulted in the death of some of the members of armed groups and caused displacement of hundreds of families. MNLF declared it an intentional attack on MNLF camp. The civil society in Sulu made an appeal to the AFP to stop the operation as it could cause more fire fights and civilian displacements in the area.
NP’s Work
Sulu Team
On the request of key partner networks, NP Sulu team in consultation with the NP Main Office conducted a series of activities in collaboration with CBCS and MPC to plan strategies and programs of the return of IDPs. Mindanao people’s Caucus (MPC) designed a programmatic scheme to help IDP’s who belong to the areas which are termed as “No Man’s Land”. NP partner has already started engaging the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Local Government Support Program for the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (LGSPA) to secure assistance and funding to the IDPs programme. The NP team has been requested to provide presence and accompaniment to the IDPs during the resettlement process and maintain random presence once the IDPs are resettled.
NP Sulu team in the company of the Project Director, Communications Coordinator and Fund Raising officer paid a courtesy call to the 104th Brigade in Sulu. After the pull out of Army from Sulu, the 104th Brigade is now the HQ of the Marines and Joint Task Force for Sulu. The courtesy visit was intended to further build on the already existing good working relationship between NP team and the head of Marines General in Sulu.
During the visit the NP team discussed several issues related to civilian protection, military operations, freedom of movement for civilians and the need to bridge the communications gap between the military and members of the civil society. The meeting turned out to be quite fruitful and encouraging to NP as the general requested NP to inform him on any issues affecting civilians especially with regards to the freedom of movement for civilians and their ability to gain access to their farms and lands. The General requested NP to facilitate his meeting with one of the MNLF senior Commander if was possible within NP mandate.
NP Sulu in the presence of Project Director and Communication Coordinator organized a plenary meeting on the request of NP local partners to carry out a series of training of community or Barangay based HR activists, reporters and documenters in four key municipalities in the island of Sulu. NP was requested to partially support the training of HR people who will be based at the lowest level of the Barangays and to maintain international presence during the course of such training activities, as well as share NP mandate with the HR workers at the grass roots level. The strategy was designed to work on a regular basis with the grassroots level HR workers after the training and to help in the activation of NP partners HR structures on the ground. NP and its key partner made initial field visit in the identified area to meet with the community and local government structures to ensure their involvement in the HR programme.
NP Sulu team along with the visiting staff from NP Main office met with the ICRC new representative in Sulu. The ICRC has been in the process of exploring the feasibility of establishing full time presence in Sulu. According to the ICRC representative, ICRC Sulu was advised to meet with NP team in Sulu to identify the areas of cooperation between ICRC and NP in Sulu. ICRC assured its support to NP in the areas of HR and civilian protection work.
On the request of one local partner, NP Sulu team along with the visiting Main Office staff maintained presence in a final Rido (Clan Conflict) settlement activity which was also attended by the local government structure, representatives of Governor’s office and Armed Forces of Philippines. NP Project Director was requested to share NP mandate to the participants who attended Rido settlement.
NP Sulu team made requested follow ups with the family members of the Ipil massacre and met the leading lawyers of Bangsamoro Lawyers Network and Commission on Human Rights along with the Project Director, Communication Coordinator and Fund Raising officer.
The local staff of NP Sulu team developed area profile of one of the key municipalities where NP operates. Besides this, NP Sulu team maintained operational links with all the other key authorities in the island of Sulu.
NP Central Mindanao Team (CMT)
NP Central Mindanao remained quite occupied in the month of April due to series of skirmishes between some of the local commanders in Datu Piang. The Members of Balanaken Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Post (JCMP – Balanaken) made persistent efforts to convince the warring commanders to resolve their enmities through negotiations but the efforts could not bear any fruits. On the evening of April 3, the first gunshot was fired which resulted in heavy fighting between the armed commanders. The second day of firing engagement in Barangay Alung’anen of Datu Piang Municipality forced majority of the civilians to vacate their homes in fear of being caught in the crossfire. On the request of GRP-MILF ceasefire structure and local partners, NP CMT and Main Office decided to maintain a full night presence in the JCMP in Balanaken along with GRP MILF ceasefire monitors and local monitors. In coordination with the main office, CMT managed to save a situation when the Balanaken JCMP members were in readiness to vacate the post when two armed groups violated the ceasefire agreement as they brought their combatants almost 70 meters close to the JCM post. The prompt responses from NP field team and Main Office and their coordination with the leadership of the GRP-MILF- CCCH structures convinced the armed groups to go back to their previous positions which immensely helped to pacify the situation. Finally, the peaceful situation motivated the key leaders to initiate the dialogue process to announce cohesive ceasefire between the warring commanders. The continuous presence of NP CMT in the JCMP Balanaken gave immense confidence to the local IDPs/evacuees to come back to their villages.
NP CMT team visited JMAT-Rangeban, Midsayap Municipality, as well as Barangay Tugal where some families were living as IDPs in a Mosque and shared the information with the relevant departments.
CMT in coordination with one of the local partners organized two planning meetings involving the local peace monitors to further analyze the Early Warning and Early Response System as a mechanism for violence reduction/prevention. On the same note, CMT in consultation with the Main Office visited two of the relatively critical areas and maintained overnight stay there along with the local partners. During the visit, the team held meetings with the local commander of an armed group as well as with community leaders (teachers, traditional and religious leaders).
CMT together with the main office participated in a ‘Community Forum on the GRP-MILF Peace process’ - an update to community/civilians regarding the peace process. The forum was held in Barangay Kilingan, Carmen of Maguindanao and organized by local partners, United Youth for Peace and Development (UNYPAD) and Mindanao People’s Caucus (MPC). Participants to the forum were political, religious and community leaders from different Barangays. Among the presenters were heads of the GRP – MILF CCCH Secretariat, the Malaysian team of IMT, Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) and Nonviolent Peaceforce Communication Coordinator from the Main Office and Team Coordinator from CMT. On the request of local partners, both NP staff members shared NP civilian protection work at the community level as well as its linkages with the CCCH structures. The Carmen area has been identified as one of the future field sites of NP Philippines project.
NP CMT held regular staff meetings and debriefings to discuss and plan programmatic and team building/relational issues. CMT Team Coordinator in collaboration with the Main Office provided gradual training to the new ICP who joined the project in the month of March.
One of NP Advisory Board members organized a high level policy forum to discuss the “Withdrawal of IMT and Ceasefire Structures”. The NP Project Director was invited to present Early Warning System and Early Response Mechanism but because of his earlier committed engagements in Manila, the task was assigned to the Team Coordinator of CMT who made an impressive presentation. The participants of the forum, like the Heads of the GRP MILF peace panels, IMT and leaders of the CSOs thanked NP for its genuine civilian protection work on the ground.
CMT local staff along with the ICPs developed initial area profiles of four municipalities where NP CMT operates. Towards the end of the month, CMT staff joined other NP staff from Sulu and Main Office in Staff Review/Retreat meeting held in General Santos from 28thApril to 1stMay 2008.
NP Cotabato Main Office (CMO)
NP CMO continued supporting the work of both field sites and spent considerable amount of time especially with the NP Sulu team.
The Project Director and Communication Coordinator held exclusive meetings with the heads of the GRP-MILF ceasefire structure to discuss the pull out decision of the Malaysians from the IMT and its possible impact on the ceasefire mechanism and conflict prevention. The CMO team briefed the representatives of both sides on NP work and sought their suggestions to further consolidate NP work. The representatives of both sides categorically identified new areas for NP to consider for future deployments and endorsed the greater need of NP kind of work in the present ceasefire situation in Mindanao.
On the follow up meeting on Human Rights Structures in Mindanao, NP CMO participated in a specially called meeting to discuss the conceptual and operational basis in the establishment of Independent Human Rights Commission of Mindanao (IHRCM) run by the CSOs. One of NP’s partners requested NP to support its network members on the training of human rights workers and help in the activation of such HR structure which would gradually be linked up with the IHRCM.
NP CMO along with the Team Coordinator of NP Sulu team and a key partner representative from Sulu met the MNLF Chairman Professor Nur Misuari in New Manila, Quezon City. In the meeting, Misuari gave a green signal to NP to meet MNLF ground Commanders in Sulu.
Other activities of the headquarters have been fundraising, the finalizing of a General and Programmatic Security Management Framework (GPSMF) document, and the purchase of a new vehicle for the Sulu team.
The CMO staff organized the third NP Philippines Project Review/Retreat meeting in the General Santos city. The meeting was attended by all the present ICPs, national and local staff. The Project Director along with the project staff drew the agenda of the meeting with a special focus on NP Philippines project General Security Management Framework in the context of its programmatic intervention, the early warning and early response system and human rights action plans.
Nonviolent Peaceforce Philippines project completed its first year of the project.
(written by Atif Hameed)