DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/17 November) – The Asia Foundation (TAF) and the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (CHD) accepted in Kuala Lumpur Monday the invitation of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to be among the international non-governmental organizations that would be part of the International Contact Group (ICG). According to the September 15, 2009 framework agreement, the ICG ”will consist of interested countries accompanying the peace process preferably drawn from the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the European Union (EU) as well as accredited INGO to be invited by the Parties in consultation with the Third Party Facilitator.”
“Mindful of the interests of the stakeholders to benefit from and expect significant peace dividends from the ICG mission, the Parties will designate INGO that will be accredited along with their named local NGO partners,” the Agreement states.
Seguis told MindaNews the meeting Monday in Kuala Lumpur was “with the prospective members of the ICG.”
“We discussed the draft terms of reference for the ICG such as our expectations and their respective roles. They did not want the invitations extended to them to be made public until they hand in their acceptance of our invitation through diplomatic channel.”
According to Seguis, the ambassadors of the invited countries who attended the KL meeting, told them “they have to refer our joint formal invitations to their respective home offices. The non-state actors or the NGOs accepted the invitation on the spot.”
Seguis had earlier identified TAF as an ICG INGO member when he briefed US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton on November 12.
MindaNews sources cited CHD as among those invited. Seguis confirmed CHD had accepted the invitation.
The CHD “is an independent organization, based in Geneva, Switzerland, dedicated to helping improve the global response to armed conflict.”
According to its website, the CHD “attempts to achieve this by mediating between warring parties and providing support to the broader mediation community.”
“The HD Centre is driven by humanitarian values and its ultimate goal to reduce the consequences of violent conflict, improve security, and ultimately contribute to the peaceful resolution of conflict,” it said.
Seguis did not name the ambassadors of the countries and representatives of the INGOs who met with them in Kuala Lumpur but www.luwaran.com, the MILF’s website, identified them as United Kingdom ambassador to the Philippines Stephen Lillie, Japanese ambassador to the Philippines Makoto Katsura, CHD country representative, Dr. David Gorman and the TAF country representative, Dr. Steven Rood, TAF country representative.
Luwaran also reported that the two panels will be sending formal written invitations to the governments of Turkey and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,
Malaysian facilitator, Datuk Othman Bin Abdul Razak, convened the initial meeting of the Philippine government and MILF peace panels and prospective members of the ICG at the Golden Horse Hotel, luwaran reported.
The meeting, according to the luwaran report, started at around 8 p.m. and ended nearly 11 p.m. (Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews)
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