International supporters to formal peace negotiations between the Manila government and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) welcomed the resumption of the talks scheduled on December 8-9 which will be facilitated by Malaysia.

In a joint statement, members of the talks’ International Contact Group (ICG) expressed “hope that future negotiations lead to lasting and just peace and stand ready to provide assistance to help achieve that aim”.

The talks collapsed last year in a maelstrom of protests over a draft agreement on ancestral domain. Critics of Manila said the agreement was a violation of the Constitution but the MILF said it was nothing but a formal recognition of the Moro people’s history and existence in Southern Philippines.

Formed by both sides, the ICG includes the United Kingdom, Japan and Turkey.

Also part of the ICG are four non-governmental organizations: the  Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, The Asia Foundation, Conciliation Resources and Muhammadiyah.

Makoto Katsura, Japan’s Ambassador to Manila, informed the negotiating panels of Manila and the MILF on November 27 that Tokyo was accepting their joint invitation to be part of the ICG.

The United Kingdom, said in a statement by Stephen Lillie, Britain’s Ambassador to Manila, formally joined the ICG on December 1.

Under the terms of reference accepted by parties, the ICG members’ roles include providing impartial advice to the parties in the negotiations and complement the existing mechanisms to facilitate and propel the talks.

Katsura and Lillie said in their separate statements that Manila and the MILF invited their countries to be ICG members last November 16 at a meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

Although not a member of the ICG, the United States has expressed support to the peace negotiations, with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressing Manila to sign a final peace pact with the MILF as soon as possible. Clinton made the challenge during her quick visit to Manila this month.

The US has deployed an undisclosed number of US troops in Mindanao, where US companies are also located.

The MILF is fighting for a separate Islamic state in Mindanao. Another separatist group, the Moro National Liberation Front, has signed a final peace agreement with the Manila government under the presidency of General Fidel Ramos.

But the MNLF and the MILF have both claimed that Manila has shortchanged Moros – a term used to describe Islamic people in Mindanao – and have not complained with the spirit and letter of the final peace agreement.

Today, the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, which was formed in part to undercut the separatist movements, is under the control of the Ampatuan political clan, the principal suspects in the grisly Maguindanao massacre last November 23.