Malaysia will start to withdraw peacekeepers in phases next month from the troubled southern Philippine region of Mindanao, state news agency Bernama said on Thursday.
The decision is a blow for multinational peace efforts in the region, where unarmed Malaysian soldiers have been posted since 2004 to help bring to an end nearly 40 years of conflict that have killed more than 120,000 people and displaced 2 million.
Malaysian Defense Minister Najib Razak said about 21 Malaysian officers would be called back in the first phase on May 10, with another 31 returning later.
“The defense forces chief will leave for the Philippines next month to convey to the Philippine government about the withdrawal,” Najib, who is also the country’s deputy prime minister, told reporters at a conference in Kuala Lumpur. “A decision has been made on q presence there … we cannot be there forever.”
The announcement came a day after a Philippine official urged Malaysia to reconsider its decision to quit the monitoring team.
“It’s in the interest of everyone to maintain the ceasefire,” Philippine Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita told a news conference at the Philippine presidential palace on Wednesday, adding that it was in Malaysia’s interest to help keep its neighbor peaceful.
“Of course, no one wants the troubles in his neighbor’s house to come to his own. That’s why, in all sincerity, they are participating in the hope that we can find peace in the southern Philippines because we have a common border with Malaysia,” he said.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Rais Yatim had announced on Monday the country’s decision not to extend the mission of the International Monitoring Team when it expired in September.
“The thing is, we have to get cooperation from both sides,” Bernama quoted Rais as saying. “But, if one party is not making the effort, we will have to end the mission.”
The remark appeared to be aimed at the Philippine government, which Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels have accused of dragging its feet on the creation of a Muslim homeland in the south.
Talks between the government and MILF have run for more than 10 years, making some rebel commanders doubt the sincerity of the government in ending the conflict.
Malaysia has been brokering the talks since 2001.
The monitoring team has been in place in strife-torn areas of Mindanao since October 2004 and helped slash skirmishes between troops and Muslim rebels from 700 in 2002 to fewer than a dozen last year.
The unarmed monitors include about 50 troops from Malaysia, 10 from Brunei, two Libyan diplomats and a Japanese development worker.
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