In a statement issued Monday evening, Presidential Adviser Jesus G. Dureza said the Libyan government relayed the information through Secretary Norberto B. Gonzales, Jr., the national security adviser.
"The Libyan government has agreed to send 25 ceasefire monitors to sustain the ceasefire in Mindanao. I received an overseas call from Secretary Bert Gonzales who is in Tripoli that the Libyan government will send an initial contingent of four monitors," Dureza said.
On May 10, Malaysia pulled out 29 of its 41 military personnel from the International Monitoring Team, which Kuala Lumpur is also heading aside from being the mediator of the peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Libya is already part of the foreign truce monitors with five personnel. Others in the IMT include Japan and Canada.
Now on its fourth year, the IMT's mandate, which is renewed annually, is slated to end on August 31 this year.
The IMT was largely credited for significantly bringing down the skirmishes between the government and Moro rebel forces.
Last year, there were only eight clashes between the parties, according to the Joint Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities.
"We welcome this good news. We thank this gesture of faith to our peace process and we continue to hope for Libya's sustained and deepening participation in the IMT," Dureza said.
He said the additional deployment of Libyan soldiers will need the consent of the Moro rebels, expressing confidence that all sectors will welcome the positive development from the end of Libya.
When sought for comment on Tuesday, Mohagher Iqbal, MILF chief peace negotiator, lashed at the government because of its apparent zeal in the plight of the IMT.
"The IMT is just the side issue. The main issue is the resumption of the stalled peace talks brought by the ancestral domain and finished it," he said in a phone interview.
"The government is just playing around by giving too much emphasis to a side issue," Iqbal added.
The rebel chief peace negotiator disclosed that if formal talks resume, the front will force the settling of the draft memorandum of agreement for the ancestral domain before discussions on the plight of the IMT.
He noted there have been already consensus points agreed upon by the parties for several years now on ancestral domain.
Iqbal said the additional deployment of the Libyans to the IMT, or its intention to head the foreign truce team, will have to be bilaterally approved by the government and the MILF. (BSS)
