New Group of Peacekeepers Arrives in Mindanao

Indonesian peacekeeping troops reflect on the mission ahead as the C-17 Globemaster III loadmaster makes one last check of the area before takeoff . — Indonesian peacekeeping troops reflect on the mission ahead as the C-17 loadmaster makes one last check of the area before takeoff .

Cotabato City, Philippines, 03 Jumadil Akhir 1437/13 March 2016 (MINA) – A new contingent of Malaysian peacekeepers will replace tomorrow their outgoing compatriots after observing for a year the enforcement of the ceasefire accord between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Major Gen. Datuk Wira Zamrose Bin Mohd Zain of the Malaysian Royal Armed Forces leads the incoming group of foreign ceasefire observers for the International Monitoring Team (IMT) 11, Mi’raj Ilamic News Agency (MINA) reported, quoting Philstar.

Zain and his men will replace the IMT 10, under Major Gen. Dato Sheik Mokhsin Bin Sheik Hassan.

Hassan and his men completed their year-long monitoring mission in flashpoint areas covered by the 1997 ceasefire agreement.

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A large part of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is covered by the IMT’s ceasefire monitoring mission.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, presiding chairman of the ARMM’s inter-agency, cross-section Regional Peace and Order Council, yesterday said he would extend the same support to the IMT 11.

“This peacekeeping mission plays a very big role in keeping peace in many areas inside the autonomous region. I and my constituent-officials in the ARMM government support the Mindanao peace process extensively,” he said.

The MILF has bastions in the ARMM’s component provinces Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, which are both in mainland Mindanao, and in the islands of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

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The IMT is comprised of soldiers from Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, and civilian conflict resolution and rehabilitation experts from Norway, Japan and the European Union.
(T/R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)