DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 6, 2008) - A top security adviser of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has urged the Philippine government to pursue with more intensity a political solution to the long-drawn Mindanao conflict, adding that disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) should be part and parcel of the negotiation, government media reported Thursday.
The Philippine News Agency said Dr Robert Hannigan, head of Security, Intelligence and Resilience of the United Kingdom, flew to this southern Philippine city to give his views and experience on how the British government reached a peaceful settlement of the 400-year armed conflict in Northern Ireland in 1998 with the signing of the "Good Friday Agreement."
The briefing which lasted for three hours was held at the Marco Polo Hotel.
Aware of the Muslim problem in Mindanao, Hannigan who helped then British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the peaceful settlement of the Irish armed conflict between Protestants and Catholics, said military solution alone will not solve the problem in southern Philippines.
As Political Director General in Northern Ireland, Hannigan was responsible for the implementation of the 1998 accord between the British government and Irish paramilitary forces (IRA) which included their local version of the DDR process, called decommissioning.
Hannigan said a political negotiation is necessary to resolve once and for all the Mindanao conflict which has dragged for several decades now.
Presidential Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. invited Hannigan to lecture on the British experience in resolving peacefully the IRA problem in Ireland. Hannigan arrived in Manila on Monday night from London and flew here the next day with British Ambassador to the Philippines Peter Beckingham.
Hannigan said it took 10 years for them to reach a final agreement that included patience, hard work and concessions from both sides. He said that while the security problems were different between Ireland and the Philippines, the solution should also address the so-called "drivers of violence," those who try to drive a wedge between the two sides during the peace process.
He said there must be an established "platform of politics" that includes a stable security environment which, he said, is essential.
“The Philippine government must also determine what to do with the armed groups after they have turned in their weapons,” he said.
Manila is currently pursuing the DDR strategy in peace talks with armed groups, including the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
The Arroyo government broke off talks with the MILF after the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) initially signed by peace negotiators in Malaysia in July.
The Tribunal's decision angered some MILF commanders then launched a series of deadly attacks against civilian targets in Mindanao.
Kuala Lumpur is brokering the peace talks between Manila and the MILF, but there is no sign negotiations would resume soon. Malaysia has deployed truce observers in Mindanao and its role as should conclude by the end of the month.
The New Straits Times reported Thursday that Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim as saying although there has been talk about the Philippine government planning another extension of the Malaysian troops' presence in the southern island of Mindanao to resolve the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain, nothing was submitted to his office.
“We will only continue to support the peace process as facilitators and lead the international monitoring team if both parties are serious in their endeavors to pursue the peace process and only when the Philippine government has officially submitted their application to us,” he said.
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