Norway to join Malaysia-led peace monitors in Mindanao

Norway will join a Malaysia-led International Monitoring Team (IMT) that will monitor the existing ceasefire between government forces and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in southern Philippines. But the MILF said Friday Norway's decision to join the IMT is conditional, and "still subject to certain conditions." "As of (Friday), the Norwegian government has not disclosed details of those conditions that it wants to clarify with the GRP and MILF peace panels," the MILF said in an article posted on its website. It noted Norway was the first of three countries newly nominated to join the IMT. Indonesia and Qatar have yet to respond to invitations to join the team. With Norway’s expected membership, the 60-man IMT will be composed of five countries, including Malaysia, Libya, Brunei, Japan, and Norway. At present, the IMT has four components, including security (ceasefire), socio-economic, humanitarian, and civilian protection. Malaysia heads the IMT as well as the security component, while Japan handles the socio-economic aspect. The European Union is requested to handle humanitarian but has not accepted it yet, and Malaysia handles civilian protection. The Civilian Protection Component of the IMT has four members: The International Non-Violent Peaceforce, the Mindanao People’s Caucus, the Mindanao Human Rights Action Center, and MOGOP. Peace talks between the MILF and government were stalled in 2008 following the Supreme Court's junking of a memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain (MOA-AD). Both sides are making efforts to resume formal peace talks. - RSJ/LBG, GMANews.TV