.

JO I NT STATEM ENT

The ORP and M ILF Peace Panels. with the Ma laysian third-party facilitation. opened the forma l
peace nego tiations and reaffirmed their shared commitment to building a just, enduring and comprehensive
peac e in Mindanao.

With the formal resumption o f the Talk s. the Pan ics agree to begin in earn est th e negotiations on a
Comprehensive Compact .

As the Parties continue the pa th of peace, they also agreed to contin ue creat ing and enab ling a sec ure
en vironment for the negotiations by renewing the Term s of Reference for the Internat io nal Monitoring Team
(lMT) to monitor ceasefi re. human itar ian, rehabilitation . developm en t and civ ilian pro tection agreements.
Pursuant to th is, the Part ies wi ll invite as IMT members Ma laysia. Japan. Brunei and Libya and non -
go vernmental organizations. namely the Inte rnat ional Com mittee on the Red Cross (JC RC). the Mindanao
People's Caucus (MPC) and the Non -Viol ent Peac e Force (NVPF).

The Parties also renewed their commitment to co ntinue efforts in coordi nat ing the interd ict ion and
isolation of crim inal and lawless elements by reviv ing the Ad Hoc Jo int Action Group (AI IJAG).

The GRP took serious note of the MI LF concerns of continued arre sts of its clem ents by the
go vernmen t authorities and to take steps to address th is issue.

A lso. th e M ILF so ug ht clarification on the implic atio n of the declaration of mart ial law in the
Province of Maguindanao to which point the G RP stated that it wo uld 1I0t affec t the peace process.

In a show of suppo rt, the members of the newly-co nstituted Inte rnatio nal Contact Group (ICG)
attended and addressed the open ing and clo sing ses sio ns o f the two-day forma l resumption of the Tal ks. The
ICG was represented by Japanese Am hassador to Malaysia Masah iko Horle. Briti sh High Commi ssioner to
Mal ay sia Boyd McC leary. Turk ish Charge d'Affaires Yasin Temizkan. Steven Rood and Herizal Hazri of T he
Asia Fo undation. Cynthia Petrig h and Kri stian Herbolzheim er of Conciliation Reso urce s, Dav id Gorman of
the Centre for Ilumanitarian Dia logue. and Pro f. Dr. Din Syamsuddin and Dr. Sudibyo Markus of
Muhammad iyah .

Th e Part ies e xp ress ed the ir grat itude to Her Excellency President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for her
desire and comm itment to peace and development in Mindanao. and to His Excellency Prime M inister Dato'
Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Haii Abdul RU7,Uk for his generous and stead fast suppo rt to the GRP·MILF peace
process.

1h
Done this 9 day o f December 2009 in Kua la Lump ur. Malaysia.

FORTI IEGRP , F~; ~')

RAJ' :L f:. SF.G U ' !\10IlAGHF.W. IQHA L
'-Jlj".....~an cl Chairman MILF Pane l C ha irman

DAT UK OTHMAN BI ABDUL RAZAK

Malaysian Gov mcn t Facilitator