Indonesian peacekeepers report for duty in Cotabato City

COTABATO CITY, Philippines -- A new team of Indonesian peacekeepers arrived here Thursday to help monitor the enforcement of the now 19-year-old ceasefire accord between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

 

From Manila, the team, led by Col. Gumuroh Winardjatmiko of the Indosian Army, immediately reported to the office here of the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT).

 

The IMT, under Major Gen. Datuk Wira Zamrose of the Malaysian Royal Armed Forces, is comprised of military and police personnel from Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, and civilian conflict resolution experts from Japan and the European Union.   

 

Winardjatmiko's group arrived in Cotabato City exactly two weeks after their compatriots, led by Col. Elphis Rudy, had returned to Indonesia after a year-long peacekeeping mission in areas covered by the 1997 Agreement on General Cessation of Hostilities between the government and the MILF.

 

The IMT has been helping monitor the enforcement of the ceasefire in conflict flashpoint areas in Mindanao since late 2003. 

 

Malaysia has since been helping push forward the peace process between the government and the MILF as a third-party facilitator. It hosted talks in Kuala Lumpur  that led to the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, a final peace agreement that both parties signed in 2014. 

 

While at the IMT office, Winardjatmiko also met with Gen. Alex Macasero of the government’s Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities.

 

Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia are all members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, a bloc of more than 50 Muslim states supporting Malacañang’s Southern Mindanao peace process.