Geneva Call in the Press

Main Philippine rebel group agrees to abondon use of landmines

Source: Agence France Presse - Manila, Philippines - 2 May 2002

Muslim separatist rebels in the Philippines have agreed to stop using landmines in their insurgency campaign, after a meeting with an international humanitarian organization, it was announced here Thursday.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the country's main Muslim separatist body, has given a "clear and definitive commitment... to a total and unconditional ban on anti-personnel mines understood to be victim-activated," the humanitarian group Geneva Call said in a statement.

The group, based in Geneva, is a new international humanitarian non-government organization, dedicated to the elimination of landmines through dialogue, even with rebel groups. MILF vice-chairman for military affairs Mohammad Murad has signed a "deed of commitment" barring MILF forces from using landmines and binding the 12,500-strong group to destroy its stockpiles of the explosives.

Geneva Call said this commitment with the MILF marked the first time that a group on the international level, had sealed "a new mechanism for adherence and accountability of rebel groups to humanitarian norms."

The agreement came after a Geneva Call mission, led by retired Indian general Dipankar Banerjee, visited the southern Philippines early this month for talks with MILF leaders including Murad.

The group said that "because of last-minute constraints placed on the non-Filipino members of the mission," they were unable to independently verify charges by the Philippine military that the MILF had used landmines in its armed campaign to set up a separate state in the south.

However, the MILF agreed to take further steps in setting up a verification mechanism, clearing any mines and training its personnel in disposing of the explosives.

There was no deadline set for the MILF to demine. In the past, the MILF have used landmines mainly to secure their camps and outposts in the south.

The Philippine government sealed a ceasefire with the MILF last year to pave the way for peace talks but skirmishes still take place and both sides often accuse the other of violating the truce.

Aside from the MILF, there are other Muslim armed groups in the southern Philippines such as the Abu Sayyaf group linked to the al-Qaeda terror network of Osama bin Laden.