GRP, MILF meet with int'l contact group ‘candidates’ in KL

Government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) negotiators have met with prospective members of the International Contact Group in Malaysia, the rebel group said Tuesday night. The MILF said Malaysian facilitator Datuk Othman Bin Abdul Razak convened the initial meeting of both sides' peace panels and prospective ICG members at Golden Horse Hotel in Kuala Lumpur last Monday. Following the initial meeting, government and the MILF plan to invite the governments of Turkey and Saudi Arabia to the ICG. Present in the meeting were peace panel chairmen Rafael Seguis (government) and Mohagher Iqbal (MILF), and ambassadors to the Philippines Stephen Lillie (United Kingdom) and Makoto Katsura (Japan). Likewise at the meeting were country representatives Dr. David Gorman (Center for Human Dialogue), and Dr. Steven Rood (The Asia Foundation). "The meeting started at around 8 p.m. and lasted up to almost 11 p.m. It started with the opening remarks from the facilitating country, Chairman Seguis, and Chairman Iqbal. This was followed by statements from Lillie, Katsura, Rood, and Gorman," the MILF said in an article posted on its Web site. Both government and the MILF had agreed to have an ICG to assist, provide technical support and recommendations in the peace process. The MILF said the meeting was essentially a leveling-off session, with the facilitator, Philippine government and MILF sharing their views on the Framework Agreement on the Formation of the ICG. Questions were raised by the prospective ICG member states United Kingdom and Japan, and international non-government organizations TAF and HDC, which submitted a draft proposal on their internal terms of reference (TOR). The facilitator, GRP, and MILF discussed the proposed TOR point by point, to see whether it complied with the parameters of the Framework Agreement on the ICG. "Except for some very minor ambiguities in the TOR draft proposal which were eventually clarified and ironed out by all the parties present, both the MILF and the GRP gave their nod to the document," the MILF said. Meanwhile, the ambassadors of the prospective ICG member countries present committed to convey to their respective governments the invitation for them to join the ICG. To formalize the invitation, the MILF, GRP and the facilitator handed to them during the dinner-meeting the official written communications to this effect. - GMANews.TV