Peace Talks in the Philippines to Be Monitored by Sweden

On August 29, 2007 a high-ranking official of the World Bank (WB) has joined calls for the immediate resumption of formal peace talks between the Philippines government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) which will be monitored by the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT) joined by Sweden.
The World Bank (WB), one of international agencies funding development projects on the island of Mindanao said that development can begin when peace has been restored.
The peace talks paused on the issue of the ancestral domain as the MILF insists it wanted 1,000 villages to form part of the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) but the government said it can include about 600 villages but added the final composition of the BJE would depend on the outcome of a referendum to be held for the purpose.
In a statement by Mary Judd, WB administrator for the Mindanao Trust Fund for Reconstruction and Development Program (MTF-RDP), also challenged local government officials to make a stand and push for the resumption of the stalled Mindanao peace process.