Joint CCCH, IMT arranging disposal of reported UXOs
2010-07-24

The Coordinating Committees on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) together with the Malaysia-led International Monitoring Team (IMT) are now working on the immediate disposal of discovered unexploded ordnance (UXOs) in an interior village in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao.

The discovery of some 11 UXOs was reported by the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) to the IMT and CCCH yesterday.

Accordingly, UNICEF and its partner, the Community and Families Services International (CFSI), were informed by the locals of the presence of UXOs near an elementary school in barangay Lapok in Shariff Aguak.

In its communication with the IMT, UNICEF official said “we would be grateful if you could coordinate the removal and disposal of these objects as soon as possible in lieu of the security threat it poses to the children and locals in the community.”

Information also said that the locations of the discovered UXOs were already marked and being secured by the people in the community.

UXOs are explosive ordnance that has been primed, fuzed, armed or otherwise prepared for use or used; it may have been fired, dropped, launched or projected yet remains unexploded either through malfunction or design or for any other reason.

The CCCH and IMT will be working closely with the Explosive and Ordnance Teams (EOD) of the 6th Infantry Division, Philippine Army for the safe disposal of the UXOs.

Serious security threats from the presence of the UXOs in the embattled communities in Maguindanao during the resurgence of clashes between the government and MILF forces in 2008 to mid-2009 had hindered the return of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) to their communities of origin.

The discovery of these UXOs proved valid the claims of the IDPs of security threat emanating from these objects.

MILF had repeatedly expressed belief that the UXOs were remnants of the ferocious air and artillery strikes by the Armed Forces of the Philippines during their operations against the MILF and the Bangsamoro people in 2008 to 2009 following the aborted singing of the GRP – MILF Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD).

Recently, the government and MILF signed in Malaysia the Guidelines for the Joint Mines Clearance Program to be conducted by the Philippine Campaign to Ban Land Mine (PCBL) and the Swiss Foundation for Mines Action (FSD) in collaboration with the GRP – MILF CCCH and IMT.

website: http://www.luwaran.net/index/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1472:joint-ccch-imt-arranging-disposal-of-reported-uxos&catid=81:moro-news&Itemid=372

Author: Luwaran
Source: Luwaran.net
Date Published : 2010-07-23

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